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ALICE   BLYTHE 
SOMEWHERE 
IN  ENGLAND 


flBaSMttMIHMi 


By  MARTHA  TRENT 


St 


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UNIV.  OF  CALIF.  LIBRARY.  LOS  ANGELES 


ALICE  BLYTHE 


SOMEWHERE  IN  ENGLAND 


BY 

MARTHA  TRENT 


ILLUSTRATED    BY 

CHAS.  L.  WRENN 


(The. 

GOLDSMITH 


\ 


MMHIMUft* 


Copyright,  1918 

by 

Barse  &  Hopkins 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I     BEINSLEY    HALL 11 

II    Mystery  Meadow 21 

III  The  Last  Evening 31 

IV  Peter  off  for  the  Front 43 

V    Two  Letters 53 

VI    Mr.  Muggins,  Agitator 61 

VII    A  Wire  for  the  Major 71 

VIII    The  Ride  to  Town 79 

IX    Off  to  France 89 

X    Helen  Carey 97 

XI    A  Strange  Reunion 107 

XII    A  Sudden  Decision 121 

XIII  A  Cry  in  the  Dark .  129 

XIV  Peter's  Instructions  Put  to  the  Test  .     .     .  137 
XV    A  Hint  of  Disaster 149 

XVE  The  Return  to  Little  Petstone     ....  161 

XVII    Lieutenant  White 175 

XVIII    In  the  Tower 183 

XIX    Hopes 193 

XX    News  at  Last 199 

XXI  An  Understanding  at  Mystery  Meadow    .     .  213 


2133229 


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ALICE  BLYTHE 


K 


CHAPTER  I 

BRINSLEY   HALL 

'  NIT  two,  purl  two,  knit  two,  purl  two, 
knit  two,  purl  two, — no,  that's  wrong 
— now  what  have  I  done?  Oh  dear, 
of  all  the—" 

Alice  Blythe  broke  off  in  the  middle  of  her  sen- 
tence and  bent  her  head  over  her  knitting  needles. 
Her  broad  forehead  was  contracted  into  a  per- 
plexed frown,  and  her  mouth  puckered.  There 
was  a  half  woeful,  half  humorous  expression  in 
her  blue  eyes.  She  regarded  the  khaki-colored 
wristlet  as  it  hung  limply  from  its  four  steel 
needles,  and  sighed. 

There  was  something  ridiculous  about  Alice 

when  she  tried  to  knit.    No  one  could  decide  just 

what  it  was,  for  Alice  was  far  from  a  ridiculous 

person.    She  was  a  tall,  very  fair  girl  with  a  pair 

11 


12  ALICE  BLYTHE 

of  broad  sloping  shoulders  that  a  boy  might  have 
envied,  and  a  slim  waist.  On  the  tennis  court, 
with  her  hair  blowing  about  her  face,  and  her  eyes 
sparkling,  she  was  beautiful.  Major  Chetwood,  a 
retired  Army  officer,  and  a  neighbor,  called  her 
"Diana  of  the  Tennis  Racket,' '  and  no  one  con- 
sidered the  compliment  extravagant. 

But  even  the  Major,  watching  her  as  she  sat 
doubled  up  like  a  jack-knife  in  a  big  winged  chair, 
her  knees  almost  touching  her  chin  as  her  big 
white  hands  tried  to  manipulate  the  slippery 
needles,  would  have  had  to  laugh.  Alice  laughed 
herself,  but  there  was  a  note  of  despair  in  her 
voice.  She  got  up  and  walked  forlornly  down  the 
long  room,  her  ball  of  worsted  unrolling  forgotten 
behind  her. 

"It's  wrong  again,"  she  announced  tragically 
from  the  doorway  of  the  dining-room. 

Aunt  Matilda,  a  rosy  cheeked,  little  old  lady, 
looked  up  from  the  napkins  she  was  sorting  before 
the  Flemish  oak  sideboard,  and  smiled  cheerfully. 
Aunt  Seraphina,  who  was  packing  a  big  trunk  over 
by  the  window,  laughed  softly. 

"What  is  it  now,  child,  another  stitch  dropped?" 
Aunt  Matilda  asked. 


BRINSLEY  HALL  13 

Alice  held  out  her  work  for  inspection.  Her 
aunt  shook  her  head  slowly.  "You've  picked  one 
up  this  time,  and  this  should  have  been  a  purl. 
Remember  to  watch  the  stitch  on  the  row  before, 
and  if  it's  tied  you'll  know  it's  a  purl  stitch. 
Don't  you  see?" 

Alice  looked  from  her  to  the  tangled  knitting, 
and  then  laughed.  "No,  Auntie,  I  don't,  and  I 
never  shall.  What  under  the  sun  does  a  tied 
stitch  mean?" 

Aunt  Matilda  was  about  to  explain,  but  her  sis- 
ter interrupted.  "Don't  bother  with  it  any  more, 
my  dear,"  she  said  to  Alice,  "I'll  rip  out  a  few 
rows  for  you  and  start  you  right  to-morrow. 
You've  done  enough  for  one  day.  Come  and  help 
me  with  this  trunk.  Andrew  is  going  to  call  for  it 
directly  after  luncheon,  and  my  back  is  so  tired 
with  stooping  over  it." 

"Seraphina,  how  will  that  child  ever  learn  to 
knit  if  you  keep  ripping  out  her  work  and  doing 
it  yourself?"  Aunt  Matilda  protested  mildly. 

Alice  supplied  the  answer.  "The  child,  Auntie 
dear,"  she  said,  "never  will  learn  to  knit.  You 
hate  to  admit  it  even  to  yourself,  but  Aunt  Sera- 
phina, having  ripped  out  this  particular  wristlet 


li  ALICE  BLYTHE 

every  night  this  week,  knows  the  signs,  and  she 
thinks  I  can  be  more  useful  doing  something  else. 
She's  quite  right,  I  can,  and  packing  a  trunk  will 
be  such  a  relief.  What  goes  in  it,  old  linen  for 
Mother 's  bandage  committee  ? ' ' 

"Yes,  she  asked  us  to  look  over  our  things  a 
week  ago.  They  need  soft  cloths  very  badly  in  the 
hospitals,  she  tells  me,"  Aunt  Matilda  explained. 
"It's  surprising  how  many  old  worn  napkins  we 
had  packed  away.    I'd  no  idea." 

Alice  nodded,  turned  back  the  cuffs  of  her  blue 
serge  dress,  and  dropped  to  her  knees  beside  the 
trunk. 

Aunt  Matilda  and  Aunt  Seraphina,  or,  to  give 
them  the  names  by  which  they  were  affectionately 
known  throughout  the  countryside,  the  Misses 
Brinsley,  were  not,  correctly  speaking,  Alice's 
aunts,  they  were  no  nearer  connection  than  third 
cousins.  But,  years  before,  when  Alice  was  a  very 
little  girl  and  had  made  her  first  visit  to  the  old 
house,  she  had  adopted  them  as  aunts,  and  aunts 
they  had  been  ever  since. 

They  were  dear  old  ladies,  kindly  and  gracious 
with  an  old  world  charm,  and  the  broad  low-ceil- 
inged  rooms  of  Brinsley  Hall  with  their  faded 


BRINSLEY  HALL  15 

chintz  hangings  made  a  fitting  background  for 
their  gentle  lives. 

Although  the  old  house,  now  almost  completely- 
covered  by  ivy,  was  not  as  pretentious  as  many  of 
the  great  places  in  the  surrounding  neighborhood, 
it  antedated  them  all,  and  its  history  and  fame 
were  a  matter  of  pride  to  the  countryside.  Brins- 
ley  Hall  had  held  its  own  in  the  strife  of  past  cen- 
turies, was  spoken  of  in  the  histories  and  guide 
books,  and  many  were  the  whispered  tales  of  the 
dashing  knights  who  had  been  sheltered  in  the 
hidden  chamber  of  the  South  Tower.  It  was  hard 
to  believe  these  tales  sometimes,  especially  on  a 
spring  day  when  the  meadows  and  fields  of  Sussex 
stretched  out  lazily  in  the  sunshine.  Even  the 
broad,  flag-stoned  courtyard,  and  the  old-fash- 
ioned garden  with  its  serpentine  wall  that  flanked 
the  gray  rambling  house,  seemed  to  laugh  them  to 
scorn.  Only  the  old  tower  itself,  still  upright  and 
grim,  was  left  to  support  the  burden  of  the  splen- 
did traditions.  That  is — the  Tower,  and  Peter  St. 
John. 

Peter  was  a  great  nephew  of  the  Misses  Brins- 
ley,  and  he  had  lived  with  them  ever  since  he 
was  five  years  old.    When  he  was  eight  he  had 


16  ALICE  BLYTHE 

discovered  for  himself  the  spring  that  opened  the 
sliding  panel  in  the  Long  Room  behind  the  book- 
case. The  consequences  of  his  discovery  had  been 
five  honrs  imprisonment  in  the  dusty,  cobwebbed 
tower,  before  Aunt  Matilda  had  found  him. 

No  one  ever  knew  what  his  thoughts  were  during 
those  five  hours,  but  whatever  they  were  he  main- 
tained a  solemn  respect  and  awe  for  the  tower  for 
the  rest  of  his  life.  Perhaps  his  awe  lessened 
with  the  years  at  Boarding  School  and  College,  but 
the  respect  remained. 

Peter  was  in  the  Royal  Flying  Corps  now.  He 
had  been  too  young  at  the  outset  of  the  War  to  go 
directly  to  France,  and  he  had  been  forced  to  fret 
away  two  years  studying,  before  he  could  hope  to 
attain  the  dignity  of  a  pilot.  But  the  time  had  al- 
most come  to  an  end,  and  it  was  the  thought  that 
he  would  soon  be  leaving  for  France  that  was  up- 
permost in  Alice's  thoughts  as  she  packed  the 
trunk  under  the  direction  of  Aunt  Seraphina. 

* '  Funny  we  don  't  hear  from  Peter,  isn  'tit?  Do 
you  suppose  he's  going  to  just  drop  down  out  of 
the  skies  and  surprise  us?"  she  asked,  carefully 
refolding  a  napkin  so  that  it  would  fit  in  a  particu- 
lar corner. 


BRINSLEY  HALL  17 

*  *  Gracious  me !  I  hope  not, ' '  Aunt  Matilda  said 
fervently.  "It  was  quite  bad  enough  when  I  had 
to  think  of  the  dear  boy  in  one  of  those  dreadful 
balloons,  but  now  that  I've  seen  him — "  Her 
pause  was  eloquent;  Alice  laughed. 

"Was  it  as  bad  as  that,  Auntie ?"  she  asked. 
She  had  reference  to  the  only  time  that  Peter  had 
flown  out  from  Golders  Green  and  landed  in  full 
view  of  his  terrified  aunts  in  the  home  meadow. 

"It  was,  my  dear,"  Aunt  Matilda  replied  de- 
cidedly, and  Aunt  Seraphina  added:  "I  dream  of 
it  at  night  sometimes,  and  I  assure  you  I  waken 
cold  from  fright." 

* ■  Poor  dear ! ' '  Alice  comforted.  *  *  Peter  should 
not  have  come  without  letting  us  know  well  in  ad- 
vance, and  I'm  sure  he  won't  again." 

She  had  cause  to  be  sure.  After  the  aunts  had 
recovered  from  that  first  shock  of  seeing  their 
nephew  "crashing  to  earth,"  to  quote  Aunt  Ma- 
tilda, she  and  Peter  had  arranged  a  safer  meeting 
place.  It  was  an  open  rolling  meadow  over  a 
mile  from  the  house.  There  was  a  big  empty  hay 
barn  nearby  that  did  very  well  for  a  hangar,  and 
there  they  had  met  on  many  a  clear  afternoon. 
Alice  caught  her  breath  guiltily  at  the  thought  of 


18  ALICE  BLYTHE 

those  meetings.  Peter  had  not  been  content  to 
volplane  easily  to  earth,  but  had  made  his  machine 
do  many  more  terrifying  stunts  for  her  benefit. 
And  furthermore,  there  had  been  times  when  Peter 
had  gone  up  when  he  was  not  alone.  Alice  shut 
her  eyes  as  she  knelt  beside  the  trunk  and  remem- 
bered her  first  glorious  feeling  of  soaring  up,  up 
into  the  blue  sky.  That  had  happened  weeks  ago ; 
there  had  been  many  flights  since,  and  on  her  last 
one  Peter  had  let  her — 

She  opened  her  eyes  wide  and  turned  with  re- 
newed energy  to  her  packing.  What  Peter  had 
done  was  a  sworn  secret,  and  she  didn't  dare  even 
think  about  it. 

"There,  I'm  sure  that's  as  full  as  we  can  get  it, 
Auntie,"  she  said  a  little  later,  "and  if  you  find 
that  any  more  of  the  napkins  are  worn  out,  we 
won't  have  any  left." 

"Nonsense,  my  dear,  I'm  not  touching  the  good 
ones,  and  it's  the  sheets  that  have  filled  up  the 
trunk,"  Aunt  Matilda  explained  tranquilly.  She 
always  took  everything  that  Alice  said  very  seri- 
ously, and  could  never  understand  her  when  she 
teased. 


BRINSLEY  HALL  19 

Aunt  Seraphina  laughed.  Then  she  said 
quietly:  "I  hope  they'll  help;  your  mother  said 
they  used  such  a  lot,  and,  after  all,  a  trunkfuPs  not 
much  for  a  big  hospital.' ' 

"Mother  will  be  tickled  to  death,"  Alice  assured 
her. 

"That  is,  if  she  has  time  to  be;  she  works  so 
hard  and  so  fast  that  really,  you  know,  I  don't 
think  she  leaves  herself  time  to  be  glad  or  sorry 
about  anything,  and  Dad's  the  same  way.  Up  all 
night  sometimes.  Thank  goodness,  I  had  here  to 
come  to.  The  house  in  London  is  about  as  cheer- 
ful as  a  museum,  and  when  I  fuss  about  it,  Mother 
says,  'You're  entirely  too  young  to  go  into  a  hos- 
pital.' She  really  means  I'm  too  clumsy.  'Why 
don't  you  learn  to  knit?'  And  Dad  says,  'Better 
go  down  and  visit  "The  Aunts,"  Cricket,  you're 
getting  too  big  for  the  house.'  "  Alice  surveyed 
herself  in  the  glass  and  sighed. 

"Why  can't  I  be  nice  and  dainty  and  ladylike,  I 
wonder,"  she  said  woefully. 

"My  dear!"  Aunt  Matilda  protested.  "You  are 
ladylike." 

"And  a  great  joy  to  two  very  lonely  old  ladies," 


20  ALICE  BLYTHE 

Aunt  Seraphina  added  affectionately.  "Isn't 
that  a  telegraph  boy  I  see  in  the  lane?"  she  added, 
"Do  run  and  see  what  he  wants;  Andrew  is  so 
slow." 


CHAPTER  II 

MYSTERY   MEADOW 

ALICE  met  the  telegraph  boy,  who  hap- 
pened to  be  a  very  old  man  with  white 
hair,  and  had  to  sign  his  book  before  he 
would  give  her  the  message.  She  tore  open  the 
envelope  on  the  way  back  to  the  house,  for  the 
wire  was  addressed  to  her,  and  paused  a  moment 
to  read : 
"Will  be  down  about  five,  meet  me.  Peter." 
"Will  be  down,"  she  repeated  thoughtfully, 
"that  means  he's  going  to  fly,  and  I'm  to  meet  him 
at  three." 

It  was  part  of  their  secret  plot  that  they  ar- 
ranged their  meetings  by  seemingly  innocent 
wires,  but  "be  down,"  meant  literally  be  down, 
for  if  Peter  had  meant  that  he  was  coming  by  train 
he  would  have  written  "will  arrive."  And  he 
always  put  the  time  a  couple  of  hours  later  than 
he  really  intended,  which  gave  his  cousin  a  chance 
to  meet  him  in  the  meadow,  and  go  for  a  short 

21 


22  ALICE  BLYTHE 

flight  without  causing  any  undue  anxiety  at  Brins- 
ley  Hall. 

Alice,  after  she  had  decided  that  she  fully  un- 
derstood the  meaning  of  the  message,  hurried  back 
to  the  dining  room.  The  aunts  were  waiting  for 
her,  both  a  little  flustered  and  excited.  The  de- 
livery of  telegrams  at  Brinsley  Hall  had  always 
been  an  event,  heralding  births,  deaths  or  mar- 
riages, and  they  had  never  grown  accustomed  to 
Peter's  careless  use  of  them. 

Alice's  smile  and  flushed  cheeks,  however, 
quieted  their  fears. 

"He's  coming,"  she  announced  gayly,  "later 
this  afternoon." 

"For  how  long?"  Aunt  Matilda  inquired 
eagerly. 

"Doesn't  say,"  Alice  handed  her  the  wire; 
"maybe  he's  got  his  commission  and  is  just  com- 
ing down  to  tell  us  about  it.  Wouldn't  it  be  jolly 
if  he  had?  I  will  be  glad  to  see  him,  it's  an  age 
since  his  last  visit,"  and  she  shut  down  the  trunk, 
strapped  it,  and  tied  on  the  tag  in  a  flurry  of  ex- 
citement. 

"I  must  see  that  his  room  is  ready,  poor  boy, 
I'm  quite  sure  he's  not  used  to  a  comfortable  bed, 


MYSTERY  MEADOW  23 

for  he  always  sleeps  so  late  when  he's  here,"  Aunt 
Matilda  said  as  she  hurried  out  of  the  room. 

"Fiddle  sticks,"  was  Aunt  Seraphina's  reply, 
"Peter  always  did  sleep  late  whenever  he  could. 
I'm  going  to  interview  cook,"  and  she  bustled  into 
the  kitchen,  her  mind  already  busy  with  a  list  of 
his  favorite  dishes. 

Alice  was  left  alone.  She  picked  up  her  knit- 
ting, and  after  another  rueful  glance  at  it,  and  the 
telltale  trail  of  worsted  on  the  floor,  she  went  off 
in  search  of  the  ball. 

Directly  after  luncheon  she  announced  that  she 
was  going  to  take  out  her  car  and  go  for  a  spin. 
"I'll  drop  in  at  the  Chetwoods',  perhaps,  and 
end  up  at  the  station  in  time  to  meet  Peter,"  she 
finished. 

"Very  well,  my  dear,"  Aunt  Matilda  sighed 
helplessly,  and  her  simple  words  gave  the  impres- 
sion that  the  limit  of  her  endurance  had  been 
reached.  "If  your  dear  father  and  mother  see 
fit  to  let  you  go  careening  about  the  country  in  a 
dangerous  automobile,  there  is  nothing  I  can  say, 
but  I  can't  help  being  fidgety  every  minute  you're 
in  it." 

"Poor  Auntie,"  Alice  laughed,  "with  Peter 


24  ALICE  BLYTHE 

driving  an  aeroplane  and  me  driving  a  car  you 
don't  have  much  peace  of  mind,  do  you?  But 
you  ought  not  to  blame  Mother  or  Dad ;  it 's  really 
Gilbert 's  fault.  When  he  went  to  France  he  gave 
me  his  car  and  told  me  to  do  my  worst. ' '  Gilbert 
Blythe  was  Alice's  brother,  her  senior  by  six  years, 
and  a  captain  in  the  British  Army.  "And  so  far 
I  haven't  killed  a  chicken,"  she  continued  cheer- 
fully. 

"Major  Chetwood  tells  me  you're  really  a  very 
expert  driver  for  a  girl,"  Aunt  Seraphina  re- 
marked, pride  in  her  voice. 

"Well  I  can't  quite  make  up  my  mind  to  it," 
Aunt  Matilda  insisted;  "it's  not  what  I'd  call  a 
ladylike  accomplishment. ' ' 

Alice  had  risen  from  the  table  and  was  stand- 
ing back  of  her  aunt's  chair.  She  leaned  down 
and  kissed  her  lightly. 

"Don't  worry  about  me,  Auntie  dear,  and  I'll 
promise  to  be  no  end  careful."  She  kissed  Aunt 
Seraphina  on  her  way  to  the  door,  and  hurried 
out  to  the  barn. 

Andrew  Mucklewhaum,  the  old  Scotch  gardener, 
was  busy  digging  up  the  flower  beds.  When  she 
passed  he  touched  his  cap  respectfully.    Andrew 


MYSTERY  MEADOW  25 

never  wasted  words  nor  changed  his  expression 
unless  the  situation  absolutely  demanded  it,  and 
then  he  was  sparing  of  both. 

" Master  Peter's  coming  down  to-day,' '  Alice 
called  cheerfully  as  she  climbed  into  her  car. 

Andrew  looked  up  slowly,  nodded  his  head 
gravely,  and  went  on  with  his  digging.  The  re- 
mark would  have  remained  unanswered  if  Henry, 
the  green-grocer's  boy,  had  not  heard  it. 

"His  'e,  Miss?  you  doan't  say!"  he  exclaimed  in 
broad  cockney.  Henry's  family  had  only  just 
moved  to  the  country  from  the  very  heart  of  Lon- 
don. "Hi  knows  all  about  Master  Peter,  Miss, 
Hi'm  goin'  to  join  meself,  Miss,  soon's  Hi'm  h'old 
h  'nough. ' ' 

Alice  tried  not  to  smile  at  the  eager  face  before 
her.  "What  are  you  going  to  join,  Henry?"  she 
asked  as  she  pressed  her  foot  on  the  self-starter. 

"Same's  Master  Peter,  beggin'  your  pardon, 
Miss,  the  H 'elevation  Corpse.  Alf  Gubber,  you 
know  'im,  Miss,  'is  father's  the  blacksmith,  'e 
writes  'ome  there's  nothing  like  h'it." 

Alice  was  forced  to  end  the  conversation  there. 
She  nodded  brightly  to  Henry,  wished  him  good- 
luck,  and  started  with  all  speed  down  the  road  to- 


26  ALICE  BLYTHE 

wards  the  Chetwoods'  place.  When  she  was  out 
of  hearing  she  laughed  long  and  heartily. 

"  'H 'elevation  Corpse,'  oh,  dear,  wait  till  I  tell 
the  Major,  it  will  cure  his  gout,"  she  said  to  the 
throbbing  engine. 

Her  call  at  the  Chetwoods*  was  short.  Muriel, 
the  Major's  niece,  a  girl  of  Alice's  age,  was  out, 
and  that  supplied  the  excuse  for  not  staying.  She 
repeated  the  story  of  Henry,  and  before  Mrs.  Chet- 
wood  and  the  Major  had  stopped  laughing  she  was 
again  in  her  car  and  headed  in  the  direction  of 
" Mystery  Meadow,"  as  she  and  Peter  called  their 
meeting  place.  When  she  reached  it,  she  stopped 
the  car  on  the  road  and  looked  up  expectantly  at 
the  sky,  and  waited. 

There  were  many  exciting  adventures  waiting 
just  ahead  for  Alice,  but  nothing  that  was  to  hap- 
pen ever  quite  compared  with  the  silent  thrill  of 
those  minutes  as  she  watched  and  waited  for  the 
first  glimpse  of  the  little  speck  against  the  sky 
that  meant  Peter's  arrival.  She  did  not  have  long 
to  wait  this  time.  The  little  speck  appeared  from 
behind  a  fluffy  white  cloud,  followed  by  the  buzzing 
hum  as  the  'plane  came  nearer.  Alice  watched 
and  held  her  breath.    Peter  was  evidently  in  a 


MYSTEEY  MEADOW  27 

hurry  for  lie  omitted  to  glide  and  dip.  As  soon  as 
he  soared  above  the  meadow  he  volplaned  down 
at  once.  The  machine  landed  as  gently  as  a  giant 
gull,  and  stopped  near  Alice.    Peter  jumped  out. 

"Hello,  old  girl!  Thought  I'd  be  ahead  of  you 
to-day.    Got  off  sooner  than  I  expected. " 

"So  did  I,"  Alice  replied;  "what's  the  news?" 

1 '  Tell  me  yours  first.    How  are  the  aunts  1 ' ' 

"Wildly  excited  over  your  arrival.  I  left  them 
turning  the  house  inside  out,  and  I  heard  Aunt 
Seraphina  order  a  chocolate  cake,  regardless  of 
expense." 

"Bless  'em!"  Peter  said,  grinning.  "I  say,  Al- 
ice, we'll  have  to  be  very  cheery  to-night,  you 
know,  I  go  back  to-morrow. ' '  He  turned  and  be- 
came suddenly  absorbed  in  his  engine.  "Got  my 
commission  at  last,  and  my  orders  for  France," 
he  finished  quite  casually. 

"Peter!"  Alice's  tone  was  a  mixture  of  pride, 
excitement  and  horror,  and  she  wanted  to  give 
vent  to  all  three  emotions,  but  she  knew  that  that^ 
was  the  last  thing  Peter  would  want  her  to  do, 
so  she  said  quite  calmly  instead : ' '  Good  old  boy,  I 
am  glad." 

"So  am  I,"  Peter  grumbled;   "I've  wasted 


28  ALICE  BLYTHE 

enough  time.  I  might  have  been  gone  over  a  year 
ago.  I  was  ready  enough,  if  I  hadn't  been  so 
beastly  young. ' ' 

Alice  did  not  reply,  she  nodded  her  head  sympa- 
thetically, and  Peter  helped  her  on  with  a  big 
sweater  that  she  had  tucked  away  in  her  car. 

"There  you  are,"  he  said,  laughing;  "put  on 
your  gauntlets  and  jump  in,  I'm  afraid  this  is  the 
last  lesson." 

Alice  took  her  place  in  the  little  seat,  and  Peter 
climbed  in  behind  her,  after  starting  the  big  pro- 
peller shaft.  The  machine  rose  gradually  and  the 
lesson  began. 

"I'm  getting  the  hang  of  it,  Peter,"  Alice  said 
when  they  were  back  in  the  meadow  again,  and 
pushing  the  plane  towards  the  barn.  "What  a 
pity  you  are  going  away.  Of  course,  I'll  forget 
everything  I've  learned,"  she  added.  She  had  a 
splendid  color  in  her  cheeks.  It  is  cold  up  in  the 
clouds  and  Peter  had  taken  her  up  higher  than 
ever  before  to-day,  and  her  eyes  sparkled  from 
the  excitement. 

Peter  looked  at  her  approvingly.  He  was  fond 
of  his  handsome  cousin,  very  much  in  the  same 


MYSTERY  MEADOW  29 

way  that  he  was  fond  of  some  of  the  boys  he  had 
gone  to  college  with.  People  often  spoke  of  the 
two  as  being  like  brother  and  sister,  but  they  were 
wrong.  They  were  comrades  of  long  standing, 
and  the  very  distant  blood  tie  between  them  had 
nothing  to  do  with  it.  Peter  never  felt  that  he 
must  protect  Alice  from  danger,  and  Alice  never 
felt  that  he  ought  to.  If  there  was  danger  ahead 
they  met  it  together  side  by  side,  and  shared 
equally  the  result.  She  would  have  indignantly 
resented  it  had  he  assumed  the  role  that  she  per- 
mitted her  brother  Gilbert,  and  it  must  be  said  for 
Peter  that  the  idea  of  such  a  role  never  entered 
his  head. 

When  the  barn  door  was  locked,  and  the  machine 
safe  for  the  night,  they  took  off  their  extra  cloth- 
ing and  hid  it  carefully  in  the  car,  like  two  con- 
spirators, then  Alice  slipped  into  the  driver's  seat, 
and  Peter  lazed  comfortably  beside  her.  s 

They  did  not  talk  very  much  on  the  way  home. 
Alice  drove  the  car  slowly  along  the  country  road, 
and  Peter,  as  he  watched  the  rolling  meadows 
that  stretched  out  on  either  side  of  them,  sighed 
contentedly. 


30  ALICE  BLYTHE 

"  Anywhere  especially  you  want  to  go  before 
we  turn  in?"  Alice  inquired,  as  they  came  to  the 
gates  of  Brinsley  Hall. 

"No, — home,  James!"  Peter  answered  with  a 
flourish  of  his  hand,  and  they  turned  up  the  drive. 


CHAPTER  in 

TdE  LAST   EVENING 

TEA  was  waiting  for  them  in  the  Long 
Room,  so  called  because  it  ran  the  entire 
length  of  the  house  at  the  back.  There 
was  a  big  open  fireplace  at  each  end  of  it,  but  be- 
cause it  was  war-times  only  one  had  a  fire  going. 
Aunt  Matilda  and  Aunt  Seraphina  were  busy 
knitting  beside  it,  both  dressed  in  rustling  black 
silk,  and  Aunt  Matilda's  white  head  was  crowned 
by  a  black  lace  cap  trimmed  with  lavender  ribbons. 
They  were  both  sitting  in  cozy  fire  chairs,  and  a  ta- 
ble bearing  a  big  silver  tray  with  the  tea  things 
stood  near  at  hand. 

Peter  did  not  wait  for  Alice  to  put  the  car  in 
the  stable,  but  hurried  into  the  house  at  once. 

"Hello  everybody !"  he  shouted,  and  took  the 
three  steps  that  led  from  the  hall  down  to  the  Long 
Room  at  one  bound.  He  kissed  his  aunts  heartily, 
an  arm  about  each. 

31 


34  ALICE  BLYTHE 

"My  dear,  what  are  you  saying ?"  Aunt  Sera- 
phina's  eyes  twinkled  behind  their  mist  of  tears; 
"you  won't  be  any  such  thing,  and  besides  you 
don't  like  plum  conserve,  you  know  you  don't." 

They  all  laughed,  and  for  the  time  the  danger 
was  past. 

Perhaps  it  would  have  been  kinder  of  Peter  to 
have  let  his  aunts  have  a  good  cry,  but  he  was  very 
young  and  he  had  a  horror  of  tears.  Alice  under- 
stood how  he  felt,  and  she  knew  too  that  the  aunts 
would  feel  very  proud,  later  on,  if  they  could  re- 
member that  they  had  not  broken  down  on  that 
last  day.  So  she  did  her  best  to  keep  them  all 
laughing.  But  she  had  grave  foreboding  about 
the  long  evening  still  ahead  of  them. 

It  was  Aunt  Seraphina  who  set  her  mind  at  ease. 
"I  sent  Andrew  over  to  the  Major's  to  ask  them  to 
come  over  to  dinner,"  she  said,  half  apologetically. 
"Matilda  didn't  want  company,  but  I  thought  you 
had  so  little  change  there  in  camp,  you  might  like 
it." 

Aunt  Seraphina 's  idea  of  Peter's  life  beyond 
Brinsley  Hall  was  a  very  small  tent,  very  little 
food,  and  a  terrible  amount  of  work. 

Peter  laughed  and  kissed  the  pucker  from  her 


THE  LAST  EVENING  35 

forehead.  "You  did  just  right,  Auntie  dear. 
Who's  coming, — anybody  staying  at  the  Ma- 
jor's?" 

"No,  there's  just  Mrs.  Chetwood,  the  Major, 
and  Muriel." 

"Oh,  well,  they're  only  family,"  Peter  laughed 
as  he  swallowed  the  last  bite  of  toast  on  the  plate. 
"And  now  that  tea  is  over,  how  about  a  walk  in 
the  garden?"  he  suggested. 

"You  and  Alice  go,  dear,"  Aunt  Matilda  re- 
plied ;  "it's  a  little  too  chilly  for  Seraphina  and  me 
yet;  and  besides  with  the  Chetwoods  coming  we 
must  attend  to  some  of  the  preparations." 

"All  right,  we  won't  be  long,"  Peter  nodded; 
"it's  been  a  ripping  tea,  and  I  really  feel  it's 
only  fair  to  dinner  to  go  out  and  get  up  some  sort 
of  an  appetite." 

Alice  jumped  up,  and  the  aunts  left  the  room, 
their  silk  dresses  rustling  as  they  went  up  the  three 
steps. 

"Poor  darlings,"  Alice  said  sadly,  "I  know 
they  are  just  longing  to  cry." 

"Nonsense,  they're  the  best  of  sports,"  Peter 
protested;  "they'd  have  no  use  for  me  if  I  stayed 
home  and  played  slacker." 


36  ALICE  BLYTHE 

"I  know,  but  you'll  admit  it's  a  shock.* ' 

"Of  course,  and  they've  stood  it  just  as  I  knew 
they  would,  with  stiff  upper  lips,  bless  their 
hearts!"  Peter  was  silent  for  a  moment.  "I 
say,  I'm  glad  the  Chetwoods  are  coming,  though, 
it'll  make  getting  through  the  evening  so  much 
easier.  Come  along  out  in  the  garden,  I've  got 
a  lot  to  ask  you." 

"What's  the  latest  from  Gib?"  he  inquired,  as 
he  opened  the  broad  Dutch  door  that  led  out  to 
the  little  brick  terrace. 

1  *  Not  a  word  for  ages.  You  know  he  wrote  Dad 
not  to  worry  if  he  didn't  write  for  awhile,  and 
Mother's  afraid  he's  doing  something  foolish  be- 
hind the  German  lines.  I  wish  we'd  hear,"  Alice 
replied. 

"I  saw  your  mother  the  other  day,  and  she 
looked  tired  to  death.  She's  a  wonder.  She  told 
me  you  were  learning  to  knit." 

"Now,  Peter,  stop.  Just  because  Mother 
teases,  you  can't.  I'm  not  learning  to  knit.  I'm 
trying  to  learn,  and  there's  a  whole  lot  of  differ- 
ence. But  tell  me  about  yourself,  do  you  know 
when  you  go?" 


THE  LAST  EVENING  37 

"Next  week,  I'm  not  sure  about  the  day,  but  111 
let  you  hear  in  plenty  of  time. ' ' 

"Time  for  what?"  Alice  inquired. 

"Why,  to  come  up  to  London.  You  are  coming 
to  see  me  off,  aren't  you!', 

Peter  looked  offended. 

"Your  father  said  he'd  take  a  day  off  just  on 
account  of  it,  and  when  you  think  that  Uncle  Rob- 
ert is  the  busiest  doctor  in  London  to-day,  I — 
well,  I  naturally  thought  that  you  who  have  noth- 
ing to  do  would  come  along  too." 

Alice  avoided  the  point  by  asking.  "Is  he 
really?  Good  old  Dad.  But  of  course  I'll  be 
there,"  she  added. 

"Well,  I  should  hope  so,"  Peter  remarked, 
slightly  mollified. 

"WTio  goes  with  you?"  Alice  inquired,  as  they 
stopped  to  look  at  the  old  serpentine  wall  that 
curved  in  a  graceful  "S"  across  the  end  of  the 
garden. 

"Oh,  all  the  chaps,"  Peter  replied.  "I  say, 
Alice,  do  you  remember  when  we  used  to  play 
hide  and  seek  down  here?"  He  laughed  at  the 
recollection.    "You  were  a  silly  kid,  you'd  hide 


38  ALICE  BLYTHE 

behind  one  of  the  bulges  of  this  wall,  and  think 
I  couldn't  see  you.  I  remember  once  I  called  you 
an  ostrich  and  you  cried  because  you  mixed  it  up 
with  a  giraffe,  and  your  neck  was  uncommon  long 
in  those  days,"  he  added  mischievously. 

Alice  laughed  good-naturedly.  "Yes,  I  remem- 
ber it  almost  as  well  as  the  day  you  cried  when 
old  Andrew  told  you  the  ghost  story  about  the 
man  who  died  in  the  tower." 

It  was  Peter's  turn  to  laugh,  but  he  didn't,  he 
frowned  instead. 

"Funny  the  way  I've  always  felt  about  that 
tower,"  he  said  wonderingly.  "It's  always 
seemed  so  sort  of  human  to  me  somehow.  Do  you 
remember,  when  I  was  a  nipper,  the  way  I'd  al- 
ways say,  'I'll  tell  the  tower  on  you,'  when  I  was 
mad?" 

"Yes,  you  were  a  bit  of  a  telltale,"  Alice  agreed 
calmly.  "I  always  wondered  what  you  thought 
the  tower  would  do?" 

"I  didn't  know,"  Peter  replied.  "I  suppose  I 
expected  it  to  turn  into  one  of  those  armored 
knights  that  Andrew  was  always  talking  about, 
and  avenge  my  wrong. ' ' 

They  turned  to  look  at  the  house  as  they  talked. 


THE  LAST  EVENING  39 

For  the  most  part  the  gray  of  the  stone  merged 
into  the  dusk  of  the  shadows,  but  towards  the 
south  corner  the  tower  rose  silhouetted  against 
the  twilight  sky  like  a  grim  sentinel. 

Alice  shivered.  It  was  early  Spring,  and  she 
had  come  out  without  a  coat. 

"Looks  a  bit  eerie,  doesn't  it!"  Peter  said. 
"Come  along,  let's  go  back  to  the  house;  you're 
cold." 

"And  I've  barely  time  to  dress,"  Alice  added. 

Dinner  that  night  was  a  very  jolly  affair.  The 
Major  did  most  of  the  talking,  and  slipped  in  some 
sound  advice  between  his  stories  and  jokes.  Peter 
listened  and  decided  to  remember  what  he  said. 

After  dinner,  Muriel,  a  dark-haired,  slender  girlr 
a  little  older  than  Alice,  played  and  sang  for  them. 
But  it  was  not  long  before  they  were  all  settled 
comfortably  about  the  fire,  and  the  conversation 
turned  to  Peter's  going.  There  was  no  danger  of 
tears  now,  and  they  could  afford  to  be  serious. 

"Will  they  let  you  fly  right  over  the  enemy's 
lines,  Peter?"  Mrs.  Chetwood  asked. 

"I  hope  so,"  Peter  replied. 

The  Major  turned  to  his  wife.  *  *  Certainly  they 
will,  my  dear,"  he  said  impatiently;  "what  would 


40  ALICE  BLYTHE 

they  be  sending  the  boy  over  for,  if  he  was  not  to 
go  over  the  enemy's  lines?  I  take  it  you'll  do 
scouting  work  at  first,  Peter,  won't  you?"  he 
'asked. 

" Can't  say,  sir;  most  of  the  men  back  from  the 
front  tell  me  they  do  just  about  as  they  please. 
They  may  be  sent  to  scout,  but  sometimes  they 
stop  to  have  a  little  friendly  chat,  if  they  happen 
to  meet  a  German  machine  on  the  way  home." 
Peter  felt  rather  proud  at  sitting  up  and  talking 
to  a  retired  Army  officer,  and  was  not  prepared 
for  the  damper  that  followed  his  remark. 

" That's  all  wrong,"  the  Major  exclaimed.  "I 
hope,  Peter,  you'll  never  do  anything  like  that. 
If  you're  sent  out  to  scout,  that's  your  job,  and 
by  gad,  sir,  you  ought  not  to  do  anything  else  until 
your  job 's  finished.  Now  when  I  was  in  the  Army, 
young  men — " 

The  Major  was  off  on  his  favorite  topic,  and 
there  was  nothing  for  the  rest  to  do  but  sit  quietly 
and  listen.  Alice  looked  imploringly  at  Peter  at 
the  end  of  the  fifteen  minutes,  and  Peter  winked. 
It  was  Aunt  Seraphina  who  finally  stopped  the 
steady  flow  of  his  words. 

"Is  that  your  very  best  uniform,  dear?"  she 


THE  LAST  EVENING  41 

asked  mildly  as  the  Major  paused  once  for  breath, 
and  the  question  was  asked  so  gently  that  he  could 
not  take  offense. 

Peter  tried  not  to  smile  as  he  replied:  "Yes, 
Auntie,  my  very  best,  it's  all  brand  new.  Don't 
you  like  it?" 

"Oh,  of  course,  dear,  I  like  it,  but  it  seems  so — 
so  very  sort  of  ordinary  for  an  officer,  quite  like 
your  old  one." 

They  all  laughed. 

"It  is  like  it,  Aunt  Seraphina,  except  for  the 
wonderful  stripes,"  Alice  explained.  "They 
make  all  the  difference  in  the  world." 

Aunt  Seraphina  seemed  to  consider  the  point. 

"Yes,  I  suppose  they  do,"  she  said  at  last,  "but 
I  can't  help  wishing  that  there  was  something  dis- 
tinguishing, something  different  about  your  uni- 
form, Peter," 

Peter  from  his  seat  on  the  stool  took  her  fragile 
little  hand  and  rubbed  it  caressingly  against  his 
clean  shaven  cheek. 

"We'll  put  a  distinguishing  mark  on  it,  if  you 
say  so,  Auntie,"  he  said,  "just  to  please  you. 
What  shall  it  be?" 

"I  think  a  blue  forget-me-not  under  the  lapel 


42  ALICE  BLYTHE 

of  your  coat  would  be  sweet, "  Alice  teased,  and  the 
Major  laughed  uproariously. 

Aunt  Seraphina  explained  that  she  did  not  mean 
anything  particularly,  but  she  left  an  impression 
of  gilt  braid  and  tassels  on  the  minds  of  her  hear- 
ers. 

"The  Brinsleys  have  always  been  in  the  Navy," 
she  ended  with  dignity,  "and  the  uniform  is  so 
much  richer  looking." 

"I  don't  see  why  the  forget-me-not  isn't  a  very 
sweet  idea,"  Aunt  Matilda  said  gently,  and  when 
the  Major  stopped  laughing  the  talk  drifted  to 
other  things.  But  Alice's  thoughts  refused  to 
turn  from  the  forget-me-not.  She  thought  so 
much  about  it,  in  fact,  that  when  the  Chetwoods 
left,  and  the  household  went  to  bed,  she  slipped 
from  her  room  and  stole  noiselessly  to  Peter's, 
and  returned  with  his  khaki  coat  under  her  arm. 


CHAPTER  IV 

PETER  OFF  FOE  THE  FRONT 

THE  next  morning  at  breakfast  Aunt  Ma- 
tilda asked. 
"What  were  you  doing  last  night,  dear 
child,  that  kept  you  up  so  late?     Your  light  was 
on  until  way  past  midnight." 

"Nothing  very  important,  Auntie,"  Alice  re- 
plied. * '  I  was  just  fussing, ' '  and  in  the  confusion 
of  Peter's  going  the  subject  was  dropped. 

The  aunts  were  very  brave  and  splendid  when  it 
came  to  those  last  good-bys,  and  Peter  felt  a  lump 
in  his  throat  as  he  took  his  place  beside  Alice  in 
the  car.  He  waved  to  the  two  quaint  figures 
standing  in  the  old  courtyard,  until  the  high  box- 
hedge  hid  them  from  view. 

"I  say,  Alice,  they're  the  finest  of  the  fine,"  he 
said  unsteadily.  "Makes  me  feel  like  a  perfect 
brute  to  be  leaving  them.  Why,  they've  taken 
care  of  me  all  my  life,  been  decenter  to  me  than 

43 


44  ALICE  BLYTHE 

fifty  parents  could  have  been,  and  now  I'm  repay- 
ing them  by  breaking  their  hearts. ' ' 

"Bot!"  Alice  replied  shortly.  "  You  're  going 
to  fight  for  your  country,  and  remember  it 's  their 
country  too,  and  they'd  lay  down  their  lives  for  it 
to-morrow,  just  as  you  would.  I'll  admit  it  isn't 
a  cheerful  proceeding,  but  you're  making  it  worse 
than  it  is.  'Tisn't  as  if  you  were  going  from  a 
selfish  choice,  you've  got  to  go  and  they've  got  to 
let  you,  that's  all  there  is  to  it — you  talk  as  if  the 
bally  war  was  your  fault,"  she  finished  angrily. 

"And  you  talk  as  if  you  hadn't  a  drop  of  feel- 
ing," Peter  said  with  disgust. 

Alice  pressed  the  foot  that  was  on  the  accelera- 
tor down  hard,  and  the  car  dashed  ahead  at  a  ter- 
rific speed.  Neither  of  them  spoke  until  they 
reached  the  meadow.  Then  Alice  helped  roll  the 
'plane  out  of  the  barn,  got  Peter's  leather  coat 
from  the  car,  and  held  it  for  him. 

It  was  a  cold  morning.  The  breeze  from  the 
Channel  was  raw  and  damp,  the  feeling  of  Spring 
that  had  been  in  the  air  the  day  before  was  gone. 

Peter  looked  dubiously  at  the  sky.  "Wish  I'd 
worn  my  muffler, ' '  he  said  gloomily. 

He  walked  over  to  Alice,  but  just  before  he 


PETEE  OFF  FOE  THE  FEONT   45 

slipped  into  the  coat  she  was  holding  for  him,  he 
stopped  to  turn  his  collar  up.  As  he  folded  one 
lapel  over  the  other  he  saw  an  embroidered  blue 
forget-me-not.  It  stood  out  boldly  from  its  som- 
ber background. 

"I  say — what? — "  he  demanded,  surprised  be- 
yond words. 

Alice  laughed,  she  tried  hard  not  to,  but  Peter 's 
expression  was  so  utterly  bewildered. 

1  '  You  did  that, ' '  he  said,  taking  her  by  the  shoul- 
ders, "but  I'd  like  to  know  how  you  got  my  coat 
without  my  knowing  it. '  ■ 

"Are  you  sure  I  did  it?"  Alice  teased,  "Maybe 
it  was  Auntie.  It  does  look  sweet,  doesn't  it?" 
she  went  on,  giving  the  coat  a  little  pat. 

"Well  of  all  the — you — "  Peter  looked  again 
at  the  forget-me-not  and  laughed  too. 

"You  can  rip  it  out  with  your  knife,"  Alice  said 
when  their  mirth  had  subsided;  "it  won't  leave  a 
mark,  and  truly,  Peter,  I  simply  couldn't  resist 
the  temptation." 

' '  Eip  it  out  ?  Well  I  guess  not ! ' '  Peter  denied. 
"I'll  leave  it  there  for  good  luck,  and  every  time 
I  see  it  I'll  remember  my  little  cousin  who  has  a 
nasty  temper  at  times,  but  a  good  heart."    He 


46  ALICE  BLYTHE 

put  on  his  coat,  pulled  his  cap  well  down  over  his 
head,  and  drew  on  his  gauntlets. 

"I'll  write  or  wire  you  soon  as  I  know  when 
we  leave,"  he  said  as  he  climbed  into  the  machine. 

Alice  nodded. 

"All  right,  I'll  be  up  sure.  Careful,  I'll  get 
out  of  your  way.  Good-by,  and  oh,  Peter!"  she 
had  to  shout  over  the  throb  of  the  engines,  "I 
didn't  mean  all  that  rot  I  said  coming  over,  I  just 
did  it  so  you  wouldn't  blub." 

The  machine  was  making  too  much  noise  for  an 
answer  to  be  heard,  but  as  it  skimmed  along  the 
ground  before  it  started  to  pick  up,  Peter  leaned 
over  the  side  and  grinned. 

Alice  drove  back  slowly.  She  stopped  to  do 
some  errands  on  the  way  at  Little  Petstone,  the 
nearest  village  to  Brinsley  Hall.  It  consisted  of 
a  few  cottages  close  together  on  the  main  road,  a 
blacksmith's  shop,  a  school  house  and  the  church. 
She  knew  everybody  she  met,  and  she  stopped  to 
chat  so  often  that  it  was  nearly  noon  before  she 
reached  home. 

The  wire  from  Peter  did  not  come  until  the  be- 
ginning of  the  next  week,  but  when  it  did  arrive 
it  left  little  time  for  packing.    Alice  got  it  in  the 


PETER  OFF  FOR  THE  FRONT    47 

morning  and  was  in  London  in  time  for  tea.  Her 
father  met  her  at  the  station  and  took  her  home 
to  the  big  house  that  faced  the  Park. 

Peter  had  not  exaggerated  when  he  said  that 
Dr.  Blythe  was  the  busiest  doctor  in  London.  He 
was.  He  had  given  up  his  practice  at  the  outbreak 
of  the  War,  and  was  now  so  occupied  with  hospital 
work  that  every  minute  was  full.  He  was  a  kindly 
man  of  sixty  with  very  clear  blue  eyes  and  black 
hair  that  was  graying  at  the  temples.  Alice's 
mother  was  almost  as  busy  as  her  father.  She 
was  a  tall  slender  woman  with  large  humorous 
brown  eyes,  and  the  rare  quality  of  never  getting 
ruffled. 

When  Alice  reached  the  drawing-room  she  was 
astonished  to  find  her  mother  there  to  welcome 
her. 

"How  ripping !"  she  said  when  she  had  kissed 
her.  "I  do  feel  honored.  This  is  really  quite 
an  occasion." 

Mrs.  Blythe  laughed  and  pulled  her  down  beside 
her  on  the  sofa. 

"Why  an  occasion,  Cricket?"  her  father  in- 
quired. 

"Why,  it's  the  first  time  I've  seen  both  my  par- 


48  ALICE  BLYTHE 

ents  at  the  same  time  since  the  war  broke  out," 
Alice  laughed.  *  *  Any  news  from  Gib  1 ' '  she  asked 
gravely. 

"Not  yet,"  Dr.  Blythe  replied  cheerfully,  "but 
I've  an  idea  we'll  get  a  letter  soon." 

"What  time  does  Peter  leave?"  Alice  asked  to 
change  the  subject. 

"At  eight  to-morrow,"  her  mother  told  her. 
"He's  coming  around  to-night  to  say  good-by  to 
me,  because  I  can't  possibly  get  to  the  station,  I 
have  an  appointment  at  the  hospital." 

"Are  you  going,  Dad?" 

"Yes,  indeed,  can't  let  Peter  go  off  without  see- 
ing the  last  of  him,"  the  Doctor  said.  "Even  if 
he  is  your  mother's  cousin,  I'm  uncommonly  fond 
of  the  youngster.  They'll  be  gone  by  ten,  and  I 
can  be  at  my  first  appointment  in  time." 

Alice  looked  wonderingly  from  her  father  to  her 
mother.  She  was  trying  to  adjust  their  new  way 
of  living  with  the  memory  of  the  old  comfortable 
life  before  the  war.    She  drank  her  tea  in  silence. 

Peter  came  in  a  little  later,  but  stayed  only  long 
enough  to  bid  Mrs.  Blythe  good-by. 

"I  do  hope,  Cousin  Maude,"  he  said  laughing, 
when  he  stood  up  to  go,  "that  if  I  get  wounded  out 


PETER  OFF  FOR  THE  FRONT   49 

there,  they  '11  ship  me  home  to  your  hospital.  Just 
think  how  ripping  it  would  be  if  I  opened  my  eyes, 
or  perhaps  it  would  only  be  one  eye,  and  saw  you 
bending  over  me,  in  that  awfully  becoming  angel- 
white  uniform  of  yours." 

Mrs.  Blythe  smiled  and  put  her  hand  on  his 
shoulder. 

"That's  a  very  pretty  compliment,  Peter," 
she  said,  "but  don't  get  wounded  if  you  can 
help  it.  WeVe  quite  enough  men  in  the  hos- 
pitals, but  there'll  never  be  too  many  on  the 
field." 

Peter  laughed. 

"I  see.  In  the  hospital  you're  a  care,  in  the 
field  you're  useful.  Very  sound  advice,  Cousin 
Maude,  I'll  remember." 

"Nonsense,"  Mrs.  Blythe  protested,  "no 
wounded  man's  a  care  in  the  sense  you  mean,  bless 
them,  we  love  taking  care  of  them,  if  they  didn't 
have  to  suffer.  I  was  only  trying  to  suggest  that 
you  take  no  unnecessary  chances.  Don't — don't 
be  foolhardy." 

"Oh,  I  won't,  I'll  be  no  end  careful,"  Peter 
promised  readily.  "And  now,  good-by."  He 
kissed  her  heartily  and  turned  to  Alice. 


50  ALICE  BLYTHE 

*  *  I  '11  see  you  in  the  morning,' '  he  said;  "mind 
you're  on  time." 

"Oh,  we'll  be  there,"  the  Doctor  assured  him, 
and  Alice  nodded.  There  was  something  wrong 
with  her  throat,  and  for  the  moment  she  could  not 
seem  to  speak.  She  heard  the  front  door  slam 
after  him,  and  felt  suddenly  dizzy.  Her  mother 
and  father  were  talking  about  other  things,  and 
she  picked  up  a  book  and  tried  to  read. 

But  she  still  had  the  same  queer  feeling  the  next 
morning  as  she  stood  in  the  station  with  her  fa- 
ther, waiting  for  Peter.  "When  he  joined  them, 
Stephen  Hunt  was  with  him.  Alice  had  known 
Stephen  all  her  life,  for  he  lived  not  very  far  from 
Brinsley  Hall.  The  sight  of  him  seemed  to  clear 
away  her  dizziness. 

"Hello!"  she  said,  shaking  hands  with  both  of 
them.  "Isn't  it  jolly  to  think  you're  going  to  be 
together." 

* '  Rather ! ' '  Stephen  replied. 

"Where  are  your  sisters?  Are  they  coming 
down!"  Alice  inquired. 

Stephen  shook  his  head.  "No,  indeed.  I  went 
home  and  said  good-by  last  week.  You  see, 
they're  all  awfully  busy  knitting,  and  one  thing 


PETER  OFF  FOR  THE  FRONT   51 

and  another,  and  they  couldn't  get  up  to  town. 
Peter's  the  lucky  one,  being  seen  off  in  the  proper 
fashion." 

Peter  laughed. 

"Catch  me  crossing  to  France  if  Alice  wasn't 
here  to  wish  me  luck."  And  as  Stephen  tried  to 
interrupt  he  said,  * '  No  you  don 't,  this  is  my  party 
and  you  promised  to  talk  to  the  Doctor  if  I  brought 
you  over. ' '  He  took  Alice 's  arm  and  walked  her 
down  towards  the  other  end  of  the  station. 

"You'll  write  to  me,  old  girl,  won't  you?"  he 
asked  anxiously. 

"Of  course,"  Alice  promised  absently.  "And 
Peter,  do  write  to  Brinsley  Hall  often,  the  aunts 
will  only  live  for  the  mails,  you  know. ' ' 

"I  will,  on  my  word,"  Peter  answered  gravely. 

They  passed  a  group  of  soldiers,  and  Alice  rec- 
ognized Alfred  Gubber  the  blacksmith's  son.  She 
nodded  to  him  and  turned  to  Peter. 

"Doesn't  he  look  splendid  in  a  uniform?  I'll 
have  to  tell  his  mother  I  saw  him,"  she  said. 

"Who,  Alf?  Oh,  yes,  he's  a  fine  chap,  works 
twice  as  hard  as  any  other  man  in  the  company," 
Peter  replied. 

A  stir  at  the  train  gates  interrupted  further  con- 


52  ALICE  BLYTHE 

versation.  The  men  were  forming  ranks.  Alice 
and  Peter  hurried  back  to  the  Doctor,  and  Stephen 
held  out  his  hand. 

"Good-by,  all  'round,"  he  said,  " looks  as  if 
we're  off." 

Alice  shook  his  hand  mechanically  and  turned 
again  to  Peter  just  as  her  father  said :  "Remember 
to  keep  your  ears  open  for  news  of  Gilbert." 

"1  will,  sir.  Good-by,"  Peter  shook  the  Doc- 
tor's hand.  "Good-by,  Alice,  be  a  good  child, 
and  go  have  a  look  at  Mystery  Meadow  once  in  a 
while,  just  for  old  times'  sake,"  he  said. 

"Good-by,  Peter,  and  good-luck."  Alice  was 
herself  again.  "I  will,  and  write  when  you  get  a 
chance,  and  of  course,  win  all  the  decorations, ' '  she 
added  laughing. 

"Oh,  naturally,"  Peter  replied.  "I've  always 
intended  doing  that." 

They  shook  hands  and  looked  at  each  other 
squarely  as  comrades  should,  and  then  at  a  "  Come 
along,  old  chap,"  from  Stephen,  Peter  hurried  to 
the  gate,  and  Alice  lost  sight  of  him  as  he  took  his 
place  beside  the  other  men  in  khaki. 


CHAPTER  V 

TWO   LETTERS 

ALICE  had  the  rest  of  the  day  on  her  hands 
and  nothing  to  do.  She  roamed  about 
the  house  all  morning,  a  prey  to  very 
unhappy  thoughts.  It  seemed  that  in  the  whole  of 
England  she  was  the  only  person  who  was  not  do- 
ing something  of  real  importance.  The  thought 
had  worried  her  for  a  long  time,  but  in  the  past  she 
had  gone  to  the  hospital  and  read  to  the  soldiers 
for  an  afternoon,  or  made  a  few  surgical  dressings 
for  her  mother,  and  that  had  always  quieted  her 
conscience.  But  the  time  had  come  when  little 
deeds  were  not  enough. 

With  Peter's  going  Alice  suddenly  realized  that 
life  was  going  to  be  awfully  dull,  and  with  the 
characteristic  suddenness  that  always  marked  her 
decisions,  she  determined  that  she  would  find 
something  to  do,  something  of  real  importance, 
even  if  she  had  to  work  in  the  munition  factories. 

With  this  high  resolve  she  went  to  the  hospital 

53 


54  ALICE  BLYTHE 

after  luncheon  to  see  her  mother.  Mrs.  Blythe 
listened  sympathetically,  when  she  was  not  open- 
ing the  door  of  the  little  reception  room  to  answer 
questions.    At  the  end  of  their  talk  she  said : 

"But  Cricket,  dear,  you're  so  much  too  young 
to  do  anything  that  requires  initiative." 

"I'm  nearly  seventeen,  Mother,"  Alice  inter- 
rupted. 

But  her  mother  continued,  "I  can't  have  you  go- 
ing into  things  that  I  don't  know  about.  Do  be 
content  with  making  surgical  dressings,  there's 
a  dear. ' ' 

And  Alice  knew  that  all  her  urging  had  been  in 
vain.  That  night  she  besieged  her  father  in  his 
study.  He  was  even  less  encouraging  than  her 
mother. 

"You  in  a  munition  factory!"  he  exclaimed. 
"Rubbish!  Why,  Cricket,  I  thought  you  had  bet- 
ter sense.  Come,  come,  your  brother  Gilbert  is  at 
the  front,  your  cousin  Peter  left  to-day,  and  your 
mother  and  I  are  doing  our  share.  You  can  afford 
just  to  dabble,  at  least  until  you're  a  bit  older. 
Why  don't  you  join  one  of  those  Girls'  Societies 
for  amusing  the  soldiers?"  he  suggested  as  a  con- 
solation. 


TWO  LETTERS  55 

* 

Alice  shook  her  head  dejectedly.  "That  isn't 
real  work,  Dad,  and  you  know  it,"  she  said  quietly. 

Her  father  looked  at  her  inquiringly.  "I'll  tell 
you  what  I'll  do,"  he  said.  "You  go  back  to  the 
country  and  I'll  keep  my  eyes  open,  and  if  I  hear 
of  a  thing  that  you  could  do,  I'll  let  you  know. 
How's  that?" 

And  Alice  had  to  be  content  with  his  promise. 

The  next  day  she  returned  to  Brinsley  Hall, 
and  for  a  while  the  task  of  keeping  her  aunts  from 
thinking  too  much  about  Peter  kept  her  busy,  but 
all  the  time,  as  the  days  lengthened  and  the  gar- 
dens were  bright  with  flowers,  the  discontent  in 
the  back  of  her  mind  grew  greater,  and  she  gave 
up  hoping  that  her  father  would  ever  find  any- 
thing for  her  to  do. 

One  morning,  about  two  weeks  after  Peter  had 
left,  she  started  to  go  over  to  the  Chetwoods,  and 
see  if  Muriel  could  suggest  anything.  She  decided 
to  walk,  because  the  day  was  particularly  fine,  and 
she  started  down  the  road  at  her  accustomed  pace. 
She  had  not  gone  very  far  when  she  saw  the  Post- 
man's cart,  and  hurried  towards  it. 

"Good-morning,  any  letters  for  us?"  she 
shouted,  for  Mr.  Hotchkiss,  who  had  been  postman 


56  ALICE  BLYTHE 

for  many  years  at  Little  Petstone,  was  very 
deaf. 

"'Morning,  Miss,"  he  returned  eagerly,  "yes, 
IVe  got  a  lot  of  letters  for  you  this  morning, 
Miss. ' '  He  fumbled  in  his  bag  and  finally  brought 
out  several  envelopes  of  assorted  sizes. 

Alice  took  them  anxiously  and  sorted  them  hur- 
riedly. To  her  great  relief  and  joy  she  saw  that 
one  from  France  was  in  Gilbert's  handwriting, 
another  in  Peter's.  She  thanked  Mr.  Hotchkiss 
and  turned  back  towards  the  house.  She  had  left 
Aunt  Matilda  and  Aunt  Seraphina  sitting  on  the 
terrace. 

"See  what  I've  got  I"  she  said,  as  she  crossed 
the  lawn  and  hurried  to  them.  "A  letter  from 
Gilbert  and  one  from  Peter,  and  there's  another 
for  you."  She  seated  herself  on  the  footstool  at 
Aunt  Matilda's  feet,  and  scanned  her  brother's 
letter.  "I  haven't  finished  reading  it  myself 
yet,"  she  explained,  "but  I'll  start  at  the  begin- 
ning again, ' '  and  she  read : 

"Dear  Old  Cricket, 

"It's  been  a  long,  and  for  me  a  very  exciting  time 
since  I  last  wrote.  IVe  done  a  lot  of  things  that  I 
can 't  write  you  about,  but  some  day  1 11  tell  you,  though 
you'll  hardly  believe  me,  and  I  think  I  can  see  your 


TWO  LETTERS  57 

« 

eyes  growing  wider  in  wonder  even  now  as  I  write,  dear 
old  Cricket ! 

-  "I  suppose  you've  read  in  the  papers  that  we  at- 
tacked Zandre  the  other  day,  and  all  about  the  way  we 
joined  the  plucky  little  Belgians,  and  drove  the  Huns 
out,  and  had  everything  pretty  well  our  own  way.  But 
I'll  bet  you  didn't  read  that  a  very  little  girl  in  a  black 
smock  and  sabots  was  the  cause  of  our  doing  it,  and 
deserves  all  the  credit.  There,  does  that  make  you 
curious? 

"Of  course,  it  does.  Well,  I  can't  give  you  many 
facts,  but  her  name  was  Marieken,  and  she  is  only  four- 
teen (and  doesn't  look  over  ten),  and  she  has  done  more 
brave  things  in  these  past  months  than  you  can  shake  a 
stick  at,  among  others,  saving  my  life  at  odd  intervals. 
She  was  wounded  in  the  end,  worse  luck,  and  she's  now 
resting  back  of  the  lines,  and  I  hope  getting  well. 
There's  something  you  can  do  for  me  if  you  will.  I 
know  the  Mater's  too  busy,  and  you  could  do  it  better 
any  way,  because  you  were  a  kid  too,  not  so  very  long 
ago.  Send  me  a  white  dress  for  Marieken,  with  some 
blue  ribbons  on  it.  It's  the  only  thing  she  wants,  as 
far  as  I  can  find  out.  While  she  was  delirious,  after 
she  was  wounded,  you  know,  she  talked  of  nothing  else, 
so  she  must  really  long  for  it  don't  you  think? 

"Do  what  you  can,  and  as  soon  as  you  can,  but  don't 
get  too  flimsy  an  affair.  You  know  what  I  mean.  She's 
not  at  all  a  fluffy  sort  of  child.  Love  to  Cousin  Matilda 
and  Seraphina.  (I  hear  Peter's  out  here,  good  for 
him)  and  an  extra  share  for  little  Cricket. 

"Gibbie." 

"Well!"  Alice  looked  at  the  letter  and  then  at 


58  ALICE  BLYTHE 

her  aunts.  "Did  you  ever  hear  anything  so  per- 
fectly thrilling!  She  must  have  been  most  aw- 
fully brave  for  Gib  to  rave  so. ' ' 

"I  can't  imagine  a  young  girl  saving  Gilbert's 
life.  How  do  you  suppose  she  did  it;  it's  most 
extraordinary,"  Aunt  Seraphina  said. 

"Poor  little  thing,"  Aunt  Matilda  murmured. 
"Now  why  didn't  Gilbert  tell  us  how  she  was 
wounded." 

"I'll  have  to  get  the  dress  straight  off,"  Alice 
went  on  excitedly ;  "  I  suppose  a  white  linen  would 
be  best,  with  a  smart  blue  belt.  If  I  could  only 
see  her,  I'd  be  able  to  tell  so  much  better  what  to 
get.  But  gracious,"  she  exclaimed,  "I  was  for- 
getting Peter's  letter." 

She  selected  another  envelope  addressed  in  a 
very  scrawly  hand,  and  opened  it  hurriedly. 

"Dear  Old  Girl,"  (she  began) 

"I've  brought  down  my  first  enemy  plane,  and  though 
I  wouldn't  admit  it  to  any  one  but  you,  I'm  feeling 
deucedly  cocky.  It  was  no  end  of  sport,  and  I  did  wish 
you  were  with  me,  which  reminds  me. — Why  don't  you 
come  out?  There's  lot  of  work  that  girls  can  do  around 
the  hospitals,  and  there  are  any  amount  of  them  here. 
Come  along!  It  would  be  ripping  to  have  you  within 
easy  flying  distance.  Don't  read  the  Major  this  scrawl, 
because  I  wasn't  really  ordered  to  bring  down  that 


TWO  LETTERS  59 

machine,  and  he'd  think  I'd  been  disobeying  orders,  and 
don't  expect  me  to  bring  one  down  every  week  or  so 
either,  because  such  a  piece  of  luck  as  I've  had  only 
happens  once  in  an  age. 

"Peter." 

P.  S.  "Isn't  it  ripping  to  think  that  some  of  the 
American  troops  ar6  really  here?" 

Alice  stopped  and  looked  out  over  the  garden, 
her  eyes  sparkling.  Her  thoughts  were  soaring, 
and  in  fancy  she  was  with  Peter  again  in  an  aero- 
plane, only  this  time  they  were  chasing  a  German 
machine. 

A  profound  sigh  from  Aunt  Matilda,  and  a  whis- 
pered "Dear  Peter!"  from  Aunt  Seraphina 
brought  her  back  with  a  start. 

She  left  the  rest  of  the  mail  on  the  table  after 
hastily  scanning  a  note  from  her  mother,  written 
to  tell  her  that  they  had  received  news  from  Gil- 
bert. 

"I  think  I'll  go  for  a  ride,  Auntie,"  she  said, 
getting  up,  "I'm  too  excited  to  sit  still,  and  it's 
such  a  wonderful  day. ' ' 

Aunt  Matilda  nodded  and  she  hurried  to  the 
stable. 

She  drove  to  Mystery  Meadow  and  stopped  in 
her  accustomed  place.    There  was  not  a  cloud  in 


60  ALICE  BLYTHE 

the  blue  sky  above  her.  She  looked  up  instinc- 
tively, but  there  was  no  sign  of  the  familiar  little 
speck.  Two  thoughts  kept  running  through  her 
brain. 

"If  a  girl  of  fourteen  can  do  so  much,  why 
can't  I,"  was  one  of  them,  and  the  other  was  the 
sentence  from  Peter's  letter:  "Why  don't  you 
come  out  here!" 

They  were  neither  of  them  suited  to  the  peaceful 
dreamy  summer  day,  but  they  filled  Alice 's  whole 
afternoon  to  the  exclusion  of  all  other  thoughts. 


m 


CHAPTER  VI 

MB.    MUGGINS,  AGITATOE 

IN  spite  of  the  fact  that  Alice  made  a  momen- 
tous decision  on  that  particular  afternoon, 
nothing  eventful  happened  at  Little  Petstone 
for  the  following  week.  And  to  make  matters 
worse,  it  rained,  not  a  good,  steady,  honest  rain 
that  beats  down  hard  for  a  little  while  and  then 
stops,  but  a  mean  whimpering  drizzle. 

Alice  stayed  indoors  most  of  the  time,  and  spent 
hours  staring  out  of  the  windows  at  the  dreary 
gardens,  and  trying  to  form  some  plan  that  would 
make  possible  her  firm  resolve.  But  she  was 
forced  to  abandon  each  new  idea  after  weighing  it 
carefully,  and  by  the  end  of  the  week  she  had  al- 
most given  up  the  decision  itself.  But  Saturday 
dawned  bright  and  clear,  and  with  the  sun  her 
hopes  revived.  After  luncheon  she  walked  to- 
wards the  stable,  with  the  intention  of  taking  out 
the  car.  She  felt  that  a  visit  to  Mystery  Meadow 
might  help  to  blow  the  cobwebs  out  of  her  brain. 

61 


62  ALICE  BLYTHE 

She  nodded  to  Andrew  on  her  way,  and  was  sur- 
prised to  hear  him  speak  to  her. 

"The  morn's  morning '  to  ye,  Miss,"  he  said, 
the  Scotch  burr  making  his  words  almost  unin- 
telligible. 

"Good  morning,  Andrew,  it's  nice  to  see  the  sun 
again,  isn't  it?"  Alice  said  in  reply. 

"Weel,  I  couldna  say  that  exactly."  The  old 
man  was  giving  the  subject  his  gravest  considera- 
tion. "In  a  manner  o'  speaMn'  it  is,  I'll  grant 
ye,  but  on  the  ither  hand  it 's  no '  sa  gude. ' ' 

"But  why?"  Alice  asked  wonder ingly.  "Isn't 
the  garden  wet  enough? — it  looks  perfectly 
drenched." 

Andrew  regarded  her  pityingly. 

"It's  no'  the  garden  I'm  referring  to,"  he  said 
patiently;  "the  sun,  if  it  doesna  come  'oot  too 
strong  will  dae  the  flures  gude." 

"Then?"  Alice  looked  inquiringly  at  him  and 
waited. 

Andrew  spoke  so  rarely  that  she  felt  he  must 
have  something  very  important  to  say. 

"There's  ither  things  foreby  flures,"  he  said, 
1  ■  there 's  men. ' '  Then  as  if  the  conversation  were 
ended  he  went  back  to  his  digging. 


ME.  MUGGINS,  AGITATOR  63 

Alice  did  not  move.  She  and  Peter  had  learned 
long  ago  the  only  method  of  making  Andrew  talk. 
She  pretended  interest  in  a  rosebush.  There  was 
a  long  moment  of  silence,  then,  "Hen  and  slack- 
ers." He  took  up  his  theme  as  though  he  had 
never  left  off.  "There's  a  puir  body  doon  i'  the 
village  that  calls  himsel  Meester  Muggins — do  ye 
ken  him?"  Alice  nodded.  She  knew  the  man  by 
sight,  and  she  remembered  her  aunts  saying  long 
ago  that  he  was  no  credit  to  the  village. 

"Ye  do?" 

Another  nod  from  Alice. 

"Weel  then  I'm  verra  sorra  for  ye,"  Andrew 
said  sternly. 

"What's  Mister  Muggins  done?"  Alice  asked 
gently.  "He  doesn't  live  here  any  longer,  does 
he!" 

"Not  in  a  manner  o'  speakin',"  Andrew  re- 
plied, "and  it's  no'  what  he's  done,  it's  what  he  is 
— he's — "  he  paused  to  emphasize  the  words — 
"he's  an  agitator,  that's  what  Meester  Muggins 
is." 

"Oh,  is  that  all?"  Alice  laughed.  "I  thought 
he  was  a  German  spy  at  least.  But  what's  Mr. 
Muggins  got  to  do  wth  the  weather?"  she  in- 


64  ALICE  BLYTHE 

quired,  remembering  the  topic  that  led  to  the  dis- 
cussion. 

"Did  ye  ever  ken  an  agitator  that  didna  hae  a 
powerfu'  secht  o'  words  ?"  Answering  a  ques- 
tion by  asking  another  is  a  Scotch  trait  and  Alice 
was  used  to  it  in  Andrew. 

"No,"  she  said,  "they  all  talk  a  lot." 

"Weel,  Meester  Muggins  is  no  exception,"  An- 
drew continued,  * '  and  to-day  being  Saturday,  and 
fine  to  boot,  he  intends  talkin'  frae  a  soap  box  for 
the  edification  o '  Little  Petstone.  'Twill  be  a  sad 
secht,  I'm  thinkin\"  He  sighed  profoundly.  "I 
dinna  ken  what  we're  coming  tae  when  an  ill- 
faured  creeter  like  that  is  allowed  to  talk  against 
the  Government,  instead  of  fechtin'  for  it.  Not 
that  this  particular  man  will  last  verra  much 
longer,"  he  added  calmly. 

"Why  not?  What's  going  to  happen  to  him?" 
Alice  inquired. 

Andrew  smiled,  a  grim  smile  of  satisfaction  it 
was,  with  only  a  hint  of  humor  in  it. 

"Weel,  ye  see,  he  was  telling  me  the  ither  nicht 
that  after  he  had  converted  England,  he  was  goin' 
to  tak'  a  trip  up  to  Scotland,  and  I'm  thinkin'  that 
once  over  the  border — "  the  pause  that  followed 


MR.  MUGGINS,  AGITATOR  65 

was  more  eloquent  than  words.  Andrew's  shoul- 
ders shook,  and  he  smacked  his  lips  in  anticipation 
of  the  doom  that  awaited  the  erring  Mr.  Muggins. 

It  was  not  until  Alice  was  halfway  to  the  village 
that  she  realized  that  he  had  failed  to  trace  the 
connection  between  the  weather  and  the  agitator. 

"I  suppose  he  meant  that  there 'd  be  fewer  to 
listen  to  him  if  it  rained,' ■  she  said  to  herself,  "but 
it's  hard  to  be  sure  about  Andrew,"  and  she 
laughed. 

She  noticed  that  there  was  more  than  the  usual 
Saturday  afternoon  activity  in  the  village,  as  she 
drew  up  before  Miss  Sweet's  Notion  Shop,  and 
stopped  her  car.  The  people  were  all  standing 
about  the  blacksmith's  as  if  they  were  waiting  for 
something.  There  was  only  a  handful  of  people 
in  Little  Petstone,  but  they  seemed  to  have  gath- 
ered in  one  spot,  and  the  effect  was  quite  like  a 
crowd.  She  did  not  leave  her  seat,  but  watched 
to  see  what  would  happen. 

Before  very  long  a  man,  dressed  in  a  brown 
suit  with  a  flower  in  his  buttonhole,  got  out  of  a 
buggy  and  forced  his  way  to  the  center  of  the 
crowd.  Alice  recognized  him  as  Mr.  Muggins, 
once  of  Little  Petstone,  but  now  of  London.    The 


66  ALICE  BLYTHE 

village  people  were  suddenly  silent,  and  Mr.  Mug- 
gins'  voice,  husky  from  much  talking,  sounded 
from  their  midst. 

Alice  sat  spellbound  at  first,  and  listened.  The 
orator  wasted  no  words,  he  began  at  once  to  de- 
nounce war.  He  denounced  it  in  the  name  of 
everything  he  could  think  of,  and  he  predicted  the 
downfall  of  England  in  words  so  moving  t1, 
should  have  brought  tears  to  his  hearers 
For  the  downfall  of  the  country  he  blamec  tne 
Government.  When  he  spoke  of  several  p  oini- 
nent  men,  and  traced  their  resemblance  to  some  of 
the  tyrants  of  old,  Mr.  Gubber  took  it  upon  him- 
self to  protest. 

u That '11  do,  young  man,"  he  said  firmly;  "I'm 
a  law-abiding  citizen,  and  I  believe  every  man  has 
a  right  to  speak  his  mind,  but  I've  a  son  'Over 
There,'  serving  his  country  and  I  won't  have  a 
word  said  against  the  Government,  on  my  prop- 
erty." 

Mr.  Gubber  was  a  large  man  with  a  powerful 
forearm,  and  as  a  rule  his  word  was  law  in  Little 
Petstone.  Alice  waited  to  see  the  crowd  disperse, 
but  to  her  surprise  they  did  not  move.  Mr.  Mug- 
gins started  to  speak  again;  his  tone  was  a  little 


MR.  MUGGINS,  AGITATOR  67 

less  strident,  but  encouraged  by  the  support  of 
his  audience  he  held  up  Mr.  Gubber  as  an  ex- 
ample. 

' '  He 's  proved  what  I  said, ' '  he  shouted ; '  *  hasn  't 
the  Government  taken  'is  only  son?"  There  was 
a  murmur  of  assent,  and  he  continued,  "I  tell  you 
this  w  Wr  is  being  fought  by  poor  men 's  sons,  while 
the  g'<iiry  sit  at  'ome  and  drink  their  tea." 

zii  waited  to  hear  no  more.  She  started  her 
car,  honked  her  horn  furiously  and  drove  straight 
into  tne  crowd  before  her,  almost  hitting  the  soap 
box  on  which  Mr.  Muggins  was  standing. 

"There's  not  a  word  of  truth  in  what  that  man's 
saying,"  she  exclaimed,  standing  up  on  her  seat, 
"not  one  word,  and  every  one  of  you  ought  to  be 
ashamed  of  yourself  to  listen  to  such  rubbish. 
You  all  know  as  well  as  I  do  that  every  man  that 
isn't  a  slacker  is  fighting  to-day."  She  paused 
long  enough  to  look  meaningly  at  Mr.  Muggins. 
"And  they're  all  fighting  side  by  side.  Mr.  Gub- 
ber," she  spoke  directly  to  the  blacksmith.  "I 
meant  to  tell  you  and  your  wife,"  Mrs.  Gubber 
curtesied  respectfully,  "that  when  I  went  up  to 
London  to  see  Lieutenant  St.  John  off,  I  saw  your 
son.    He's   in  the   same   company  with  Mister 


68  ALICE  BLYTHE 

Peter,  you  know,  and  he  looked  perfectly  splendid 
in  his  uniform." 

Mr.  Gubber's  chest  expanded  with  pride,  and 
his  wife  said  excitedly:  "Oh,  did  you,  Miss, 
thank  you,  Miss,  I  take  it  as  very  kind  of  you, 
Miss.  "We  hear  grand  news  of  Mister  Peter  in 
Alf 's  letters,  beggin'  your  pardon,  Miss,"  and  the 
flattered  little  woman  looked  haughtily  at  Mr. 
Muggins. 

There  was  a  low  murmur  of  laughter  through 
the  crowd,  and  Henry's  cockney  voice  demanded: 

"  'Old  h'on  a  minute  and  let's  'ear  what  Mister 
h 'Edward  Muggins  'as  got  to  sye  to  that." 

Mr.  Muggins,  very  red  in  the  face  by  now, 
cleared  his  throat  and  coughed.  "Mr.  St.  John 
,  is  only  one,"  he  replied  defiantly,  "and  I'm  will- 
ing to  grant  he's  an  exception." 

"He  is  not,"  Alice  denied  hotly;  "there's  my 
brother,  Captain  Blythe,  and  Lieutenant  Hunt, 
that  you  all  know.  Just  stop  and  think  for  a 
minute,  there  isn't  one  boy  in  this  neighborhood 
that  hasn't  answered  his  country's  call,  and  we 
ought  to  be  proud  of  it.  Many  of  them  have  been 
killed,  but  they  died  like  brave  Englishmen." 
There  was  an  expressive  pause  before  she  con- 


ME.  MUGGINS,  AGITATOR  69 

tinued.  "No,  Mister  Muggins,  you  can't  talk 
such  rot  in  Little  Petstone,  and  expect  us  to  be- 
lieve you,  because  we  know  that  the  only  men  who 
have  time  to  sit  at  home  and  drink  tea  in  these 
days  are  men  who,  instead  of  fighting,  go  about 
the  country  making  silly  speeches  from  soap 
boxes." 

A  cheer  went  up  from  the  crowd.  The  old  men 
shouted  ' '  Hear !  Hear !  and  the  women,  who  were 
in  the  majority,  clapped  their  hands  delightedly. 

"What  price  Mr.  Muggins,  now?"  Henry  de- 
manded jeeringly. 

Alice  smiled  triumphantly  as  she  looked  at  her 
opponent,  then  the  unconventionally  of  her  posi- 
tion struck  her.  "What  would  the  Aunts  say?" 
She  was  just  beginning  to  feel  a  little  uncomfort- 
able when  the  cheering  suddenly  stopped,  and  she 
heard  a  voice  exclaiming: 

"Bless  my  soul;  what's  this? — most  extraordi- 
nary— bless  my  soul!  Why,  it's  Alice,"  and  she 
looked  down  to  see  the  Major  pushing  his  way 
towards  her  through  the  crowd. 


M 


CHAPTER  VII 

A  WIEE   FOE   THE   MAJOR 

"T%  /fY  dear  child,  what  does  this  mean?" 
demanded  the  Major,  as  he  put  his 
foot  on  the  running  board  of  the  car. 
There  was  a  twinkle  in  his  eyes,  but  he  tried  to 
make  his  voice  sound  stern. 

Alice  attempted  to  explain.  She  pointed  to  Mr. 
Muggins  who  was  at  that  moment  busily  untying 
his  horse. 

"He  said  such  awful  things,  Major,  that  I  sim- 
ply couldn't  stand  listening  to  them,  so  I  just 
pointed  out  how  foolish  his  statements  were,  and, 
well,  I  had  to  stand  up  on  the  seat  so  that  I  could 
be  heard.' ' 

"Bless  my  soul!"  the  Major  began  again,  but 
Alice  would  not  let  him  get  any  further. 

"I  think  I  have  convinced  them  that  he  was 
talking  rot,"  she  said  hurriedly,  "so,  of  course, 
there's  no  reason  to  stay  any  longer.    I've  a  few 

71 


72  ALICE  BLYTHE 

errands  to  do,  but  if  you  can  wait  I'd  love  to  drive 
you  home.    You  walked,  didn't  you!" 

' '  You,  you  little  vixen ! ' '  The  Major  laughed  in 
spite  of  himself,  "if  you  think  you  can  get  out  of 
it. so  easily  as  that  you're  mistaken.  What  do 
you  suppose  the  aunts  are  going  to  say,"  he  de- 
manded on  the  way  home,  "when  I  tell  them  I 
found  you  standing  on  the  seat  of  your  car  mak- 
ing a  speech  in  opposition  to  Mr.  Muggins,  while 
all  Little  Petstone  cheered  you?  Bless  my  soul! 
It  was  the  most  astonishing  sight  I  ever  wit- 
nessed; I  couldn't  believe  my  eyes." 

"They  aren't  going  to  say  anything,  Major 
dear,  because  you  aren't  going  to  tell  them,"  Alice 
replied  coaxingly.  "You  see  they  wouldn't  un- 
derstand, and  you  do." 

"Oh,  I  do,  eh!"    The  Major  chuckled. 

"Yes,  of  course.  You  wouldn't  have  wanted 
me  to  let  those  poor  old  people  believe  the  per- 
fectly awful  things  that  dreadful  man  was  telling 
them ;  now  would  you  ?  It — it  wouldn  't  have  been 
patriotic,"  she  explained. 

"Hum,  well,  maybe  not,"  the  Major  admitted, 
"but  look  here,  Alice,  don't  do  it  again;  it's  not 
ladylike,  you  know.    I  know  it's  done,  but  well, 


A  WIRE  FOR  THE  MAJOR  73 

I've  always  thought  of  you  as  sort  of  an  old- 
fashioned  girl,  and  I  'd  hate  to  see  you  filling  your 
head  with  new-fangled  notions." 

Alice  ground  her  teeth,  and  experienced  the 
same  feeling  of  rage  common  to  all  girls  when  the 
words  " old-fashioned, ' '  or  "ladylike"  are  applied 
to  them.  It  is  not  that  the  girl  of  to-day  doesn't 
want  to  be  ladylike  and  old-fashioned,  but  there 
is  something  in  the  use  of  the  words  that  ruffles 
the  temper.  Alice  wanted  to  explain  that  it  was 
quite  possible  to  make  a  speech  and  be  ladylike 
and  even  old-fashioned  at  the  same  time,  but  she 
knew  the  Major  would  not  understand,  so  she  very 
wisely  dropped  the  subject  and  talked  about  Peter. 

When  they  reached  the  Chetwoods'  they  found 
Muriel  and  her  aunt  on  the  lawn,  and  Mrs.  Chet- 
wood  insisted  that  Alice  stay  for  tea. 

"We've  seen  so  little  of  you,  my  dear,  for  the 
past  week,"  she  said.  "Of  course  the  weather's 
been  wretched.  What  have  you  been  doing  with 
yourself!" 

"Not  much,"  Alice  replied,  dropping  into  a 
wicker  chair  and  taking  off  her  hat.  "I  went  up 
to  London  for  a  day  or  so  and  did  something  for 
Gilbert,  you'd  never  guess  what." 


74  ALICE  BLYTHE 

"Tell  us,"  Muriel  begged;  "isn't  it  perfectly 
thrilling  to  think  you  Ve  heard  from  him ! ' ' 

"I  bought  a  white  linen  dress  for  a  little  girl," 
Alice  explained,  and  told  them  as  much  as  she 
knew  about  Marieken. 

"Sounds  ripping,  doesn't  it?"  she  ended; 
"makes  me  feel  awfully  useless." 

"I  know,"  Muriel  agreed,  "there's  no  chance 
over  here  to  do  anything  very  exciting. ' ' 

"Oh,  you  can't  complain.  Look  at  all  the  clubs 
you  belong  to,"  Alice  reminded  her,  "you're 
knitting  all  the  time,  and  you're  always  doing 
something  useful,  while  I — well,  I'm  so  big  and 
clumsy  and  so  detestably  young  that  I  'm  no  good 
for  anything." 

She  spoke  so  feelingly  that  the  Major  eyed  her 
suspiciously. 

Mrs.  Chetwood  laughed.  "Haven't  you  fin- 
ished the  wristlets  yet,  dear?"  she  inquired. 

* '  No,  not  quite,  but  if  Aunt  Seraphina  gives  me 
very  many  more  *  little  helps,  just  to  start  me 
fresh,'  they  will  be  finished  in  spite  of  me,"  Alice 
laughed. 

"I  wish  you'd  join  our  Soldiers'  Entertainment 
Committee,"  Muriel  said.    "We  have  no  end  of 


A  WIRE  FOR  THE  MAJOR  75 

a  lark  getting  up  plays,  and  they  do  enjoy  it  so." 

"No,  thanks,"  Alice  was  firm  in  her  refusal. 
"I  want  to  do  something  that  takes  lots  of  strength 
and  all  my  time,  but,  of  course,  Dad  and  Mother 
won't  hear  of  it.  They  think  that  because  I  was 
just  a  kid  when  the  war  started  I'm  still  a 
kid  now.  They  don't  realize  that  you  can  grow  a 
lot  in  three  years.  But  don 't  let 's  talk  about  me, ' ' 
she  added  hastily  as  the  Major  said  with  a  sly 
wink, ' '  You  might  go  out  recruiting,  my  dear. '  ■ 

Alice  pretended  not  to  hear.  "Tell  me  what 
you're  doing,  Muriel.  How  are  all  those  Tom- 
mies you've  adopted?"  she  asked. 

The  subject  occupied  them  for  the  rest  of  the 
time,  and  Alice  had  risen  to  go,  when  Potter,  the 
Chetwoods '  butler,  came  out  to  say  that  the  Major 
was  wanted  on  the  'phone. 

"It's  the  Telegraph  office,  sir,  and  I  can't  make 
out  a  word  they  say." 

The  Major  hurried  to  the  house  and  returned 
just  as  Alice  was  climbing  into  her  car. 

"Silly  idiot,"  he  fumed,  "can't  even  read  a  wire 
and  make  sense  out  of  it.  Why  that  man  Cherry 
was  ever  put  in  charge  of  a  Telegraph  station,  I'm 
sure  I  don't  know.    He's  about  as  fit  for — " 


76  ALICE  BLYTHE 

"What  is  it,  my  dear?"  Mrs.  Chetwood  inter- 
rupted mildly. 

"I've  been  trying  to  tell  you,  haven't  I?"  the 
Major  replied.  "There's  a  telegram  at  the  sta- 
tion for  me  from  the  War  Office,  and  because  it's 
Saturday  they  can't  send  it,  and  that  man  Cherry 
can 't  read  it,  so  that  I  can  make  it  out  I ' ' 

Alice  could  not  help  laughing. 

"I'll  go  down  and  get  it  for  you,  Major,"  she 
offered,  "it  won't  take  me  long." 

And  before  any  one  had  time  to  protest  she  was 
spinning  down  the  road  at  a  rate  that  far  exceeded 
the  speed  regulations  of  Little  Petstone.  She  had 
not  boasted  in  vain  when  she  promised  not  to  be 
long,  for  in  an  incredibly  short  time  she  was  back 
and  the  Major  was  tearing  open  the  message. 

Major  Chetwood,  though  an  old  man,  and  long 
retired  from  the  Army,  had  in  his  day  been  an 
authority  on  some  subjects,  and  no  one  was  sur- 
prised to  hear  that  he  had  been  called  suddenly  to 
London  on  a  matter  of  grave  importance,  which 
was  to  be  discussed  that  night. 

"You  must  go  at  once,  my  dear.  I'll  tell  Pot- 
ter to  pack  your  bag,"  Mrs.  Chetwood  said. 

"Go!"  stormed  the  Major,  "of  course,  I  must 


A  WIRE  FOR  THE  MAJOR  77 

go,  but  how?  This  wire  came  this  morning, 
there's  the  time  marked  to  prove  it,  and  I  get  it 
after  tea,  when  the  last  London  train  has  gone. 
A  nice  kettle  of  fish !  How  am  I  going  to  be  there 
on  time?  It's  not  possible,  even  if  I  drive  over 
to  the  Junction.  No,  I  will  have  to  stay  here  and 
twiddle  my  thumbs  while  a  lot  of  men  who  know 
nothing  about  the  subject  make  a  mess  of  things 
at  that  meeting." 

"No,  you  won't,"  Alice  said  unexpectedly;  "if 
it's  a  very  important  meeting,  and  you  really 
must  be  there,  I'll  drive  you  up  in  the  car." 

"All  the  way  to  London?"  Muriel  demanded  in- 
credulously. 

"You  couldn't  do  it,  my  dear,  it's  too  late.  It's 
sweet  of  you  to  offer,"  Mrs.  Chetwood  said  nerv- 
ously, "but  it's  out  of  the  question;  it  wouldn't 
be  safe." 

Alice  looked  at  the  Major. 

"By  Jove,  it's  my  only  chance,"  he  said  slowly. 
"Do  you  think  you  can  make  it,  Alice?" 

"Sure  of  it." 

"Then  tell  Potter  to  pack  my  bag."  The  Ma- 
jor turned  to  his  wife,  and  Alice  started  the  car. 

"I'll  go  tell  Auntie  and  get  a  supply  of  petrol, 


78  ALICE  BLYTHE 

and  be  back  in  fifteen  minntes,"  she  called  over 
her  shoulder. 

Aunt  Matilda  and  Aunt  Seraphina  held  up  their 
hands  in  horror,  a  few  minutes  later,  when  Alice 
explained  what  she  was  going  to  do ;  but  when  she 
laid  great  stress  on  the  importance  of  the  Major's 
getting  to  London  on  time  they  were  forced  to 
give  in. 

She  snatched  up  a  coat  on  her  way  to  the  stable, 
and  called  to  Andrew,  "Fill  my  tank,  will  you?" 
Andrew,  methodical  as  ever,  obeyed.  "And  I 
guess  I'd  better  carry  another  shoe  for  luck." 
She  moved  about  the  stable,  hurriedly,  and  it  was 
not  many  minutes  before  she  was  back  in  her  seat 
again. 

"Wish  me  luck,"  she  said  as  she  started  the 
car.  "I'm  off  for  London, — and  oh,  Andrew," 
she  called  back  as  she  swung  around  the  curve  of 
the  house,  "Mr.  Muggins  won't  bother  Little  Pet- 
stone  any  more.  I  rather  think  he's  headed 
north." 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  BIDE   TO   TOWN 

MAJOR  CHETWOOD  was  waiting  for 
her  on  the  lawn,  and  Alice  noticed  with 
a  smile  that  he  was  trying  to  soothe  his 
wife 's  fears. 

"All  aboard!"  she  laughed  as  she  drew  up  at 
the  front  steps  and  opened  the  car  door. 

The  Major  climbed  gingerly  in,  and  Potter  set- 
tled his  heavy  Gladstone  bag  at  his  feet.  Alice 
nodded  and  the  car  started  slowly.  . 

"Good-by,  my  dear,"  the  Major  said  to  his 

wife,  * '  now  don 't  be  foolish  enough  to  worry.    I  '11 

wire  you  from  town.    What  did  the  aunts  say, 

'eh?  "  he  demanded  of  Alice  as  they  rolled  along  the 

smooth  driveway. 

"Not  much.  I'm  afraid  they're  a  bit  worried, 
but  when  they  see  me  back  to-morrow,  right  as 
rain,  they  won't  mind,"  Alice  replied. 

She  let  the  car  out  a  little  as  they  reached  the 
highway,  slowed  down  carefully  as  they  passed 

79 


80  ,      ALICE  BLYTHE 

through  the  village,  and  gradually  increased  their 
speed  until,  by  the  time  that  they  reached  the  open 
country,  they  were  going  so  fast  that  the  meadows 
and  trees  were  no  more  than  a  confused  blur  in 
the  sunset. 

"Is  there  any  need  for  such  haste,  my  dear?" 
the  Major  asked  nervously,  as  they  slowed  down 
for  a  crossing. 

"It's  nearly  seventy  miles  to  town,  sir,"  Alice 
replied  shortly,  ' '  and  it 's  after  six. ' ' 

The  Major  did  not  speak  again.  He  clutched 
the  side  of  his  seat,  braced  his  feet  against  the 
footrail  and  closed  his  eyes.  He  expected  to 
plunge  to  a  sudden  death  at  any  moment,  and  the 
thought  that  he  would  meet  his  end  while  hasten- 
ing to  serve  his  country  was  only  a  slight  comfort. 
There  were  times  when  he  thought  none  too  kindly 
of  Cherry  the  Station  Master,  and  he  prayed  to 
be  saved,  if  only  on  his  account. 

Alice  meanwhile  was  enjoying  herself  hugely. 
Racing  through  the  country  at  top  speed  was  only 
a  little  less  exciting  than  flying  with  Peter,  and 
the  added  knowledge  that  she  had  a  really  im- 
portant reason  for  doing  it  added  to  the  thrill  of 
the  adventure. 


THE  RIDE  TO  TOWN  81 

When  they  crossed  over  to  Surrey  she  switched 
on  her  lights.  It  was  just  eight  o  'clock  when  they 
reached  the  outskirts  of  London,  and  she  slowed 
the  car  down  to  a  moderate  speed.  She  had  never 
driven  in  town  before,  and  she  did  not  want  to 
take  any  chances  now  that  the  end  of  their  jour- 
ney was  in  sight.  There  was  little  traffic  to  im- 
pede their  way,  but  she  did  not  attempt  to  ex- 
ceed the  speed  limit. 

The  sight  of  the  pavements,  and  the  regularity 
of  the  dimmed  arc  lamps  seemed  to  reassure  the 
Major,  and  he  relaxed  a  little  and  attempted  to 
straighten  his  cravat. 

"Where  do  you  want  me  to  put  you  down,  sir?" 
Alice  inquired.  i  1 1  forgot  to  ask  where  the  meet- 
ing was?" 

"I  think  you'd  better  take  me  to  my  club,  my 
dear,"  the  Major  replied.  "My  papers  are  there, 
and  I've  an  extra  hat.  This  cap  is  hardly  the 
correct  thing  for  this  time  of  day,  and  I  really 
must  wash  my  face,  you  know.  It  must  be  quite 
black." 

Alice  nodded,  and  did  not  speak  again  until  they 
had  skirted  St.  James  Park,  and  entered  the  little 
section  of  London  known  as  Club  Land.    She  drew 


82  ALICE  BLYTHE 

up  beside  the  curb  in  front  of  one  of  the  big  square 
buildings. 

"Here  we  are,  Major,  and  I  hope  you  won't  be 
very  late,"  she  said  cheerfully. 

The  Major  turned  and  looked  at  her,  and  al- 
though it  was  too  dark  for  him  to  see  the  smile  that 
lurked  in  the  corners  of  her  mouth,  he  knew  it 
was  there. 

"Alice,"  he  said  gravely,  "I  ought  to  be  very 
grateful  to  you,  but  I  'm  inclined  to  box  your  ears. 
I  have  spent  some  of  the  most  terrifying  hours 
of  my  life,  and  you  needn't  pretend  you  don't 
know  it,  you  little  vixen,"  he  added  chuckling. 
"I  suppose  I  needn't  ask  you  if  you  can  get  home 
safely.  I'll  call  around  in  the  morning  and  see 
you.  And  now,  good-night.  I  must  try  to  collect 
my  scattered  wits. ' ' 

"  Good-night, "  Alice  laughed.  "Of  course 
you'll  go  back  in  the  car  with  me  to-morrow?" 
she  added. 

"I  will  not,  indeed,"  the  Major  denied;  "that 
would  be  expecting  too  much  of  Providence.  I 
will  return  to  Little  Petstone  by  train." 

Alice  watched  his  shaking  shoulders  until  the 
club  door  closed  behind  him,  and  then  drove  slowly 


THE  RIDE  TO  TOWN  83 

home.  The  streets  were  unnaturally  dark,  and 
only  an  occasional  arc  lamp  pierced  the  gloom. 
She  leaned  back  in  her  seat  and  looked  up  at  the 
stars.  No  lights  showed  through  the  drawn  win- 
dow-shades, and  the  house  loomed  black  against 
the  sky.  She  half  expected  to  hear  the  warning 
buzz  of  a  German  Zeppelin ;  it  would  have  been  a 
fitting  ending  to  her  day,  but  nothing  broke  the 
unnatural  stillness.  She  hoped  to  reach  home  and 
find  both  her  parents  out ;  it  would  be  easier  to  ex- 
plain her  sudden  arrival  in  the  morning.  She 
could  trust  Jenkins  to  take  her  car  to  the  garage 
and  say  nothing.  She  slowed  up  in  front  of  the 
house  and  stopped. 

"It  certainly  looks  deserted,' ■  she  said  to  her- 
self, and  got  out  hurriedly.  She  was  just  cross- 
ing the  pavement  when  to  her  dismay  the  front 
door  opened  and  a  man  came  down  the  steps.  She 
saw  that  it  was  Dr.  Jepson,  a  very  clever  surgeon, 
and  a  great  friend  of  her  brother.  He  was  home 
on  sick  leave  from  the  Front  and  spent  a  good 
deal  of  his  time  at  the  Blythes'  home.  He  and 
Alice  were  old  friends. 

"Hello,  Michael,"  she  said,  holding  out  her 
hand,  "where  are  you  going  to  in  such  a  hurry?" 


84  ALICE  BLYTHE 

Dr.  Jepson  stared  in  astonishment.  "I  say, 
Cricket,  am  I  balmy,  or  is  it  really  you?"  he  de- 
manded. 

"Yes,  it  is  truly  me,"  Alice  sometimes  disre- 
garded the  rules  of  grammar. 

"Well,  is  it  permitted  to  inquire  what  you're 
doing  out  here  in  the  middle  of  the  night ?" 

Alice  laughed. 

"Don't  exaggerate,  Michael,  it's  only  a  little 
after  nine,  and  I've  run  up  from  little  Pep- 
stone." 

"Alone!"  Michael  demanded. 

"No,  I  just  dropped  the  Major  at  his  club.  He 
had  a  very  important  wire  about  tea  time,  and  you 
see  the  last  train  had  left,  and  he  really  had  to 
get  here,  because  the  meeting  was  awfully  im- 
portant, so  I  just  ran  him  up  in  Gilbert 's  car. ' ' 

"You  ran  him  up!  Did  you  say  the  wire  came 
at  tea  time?" 

Alice  nodded. 

"Then,  my  dear  girl,  you  raced  him  up,  not 
ran,"  Michael  corrected  her. 

"Well,  we  did  go  a  bit  fast.  You  see  there 
wasn't  much  traffic  on  the  road,  and — "  Alice 
was  trying  hard  to  make  light  of  the  trip. 


THE  RIDE  TO  TOWN  85 

" Rather  fortunate  for  the  traffic,"  Michael  said 
dryly. 

" Let's  go  back  to  the  dining  room  and  talk 
about  it,  you  must  be  awfully  hungry." 

"I  am,"  Alice  agreed,  "but — er,  are  Dad  and 
Mother  home?" 

"No,  I  dined  with  your  mother,  but  she  left 
right  after  dinner  to  go  to  some  meeting  or  other, 
and  your  father's  been  out  all  day.  I  stayed  to 
hunt  up  something  in  one  of  his  books,  and  wrote 
some  letters  at  his  desk."  Michael  explained  as 
they  mounted  the  steps. 

The  astonished  Jenkins  opened  the  door  for 
them,  and  Alice  sent  him  off  to  drive  the  car  to  the 
garage,  after  he  had  brought  her  a  tray  from  the 
kitchen. 

Michael  watched  her  eat,  and  smiled  to  himself. 

"You've  grown  up  awfully  suddenly,  Cricket," 
he  said  at  last.  "Why,  it  seems  like  yesterday 
that  your  hair  was  down  your  back." 

Alice  nodded. 

"Mother  and  Dad  still  think  it  is,  that's  why  I'm 
kept  a  baby,  and  not  allowed  to  do  anything,"  she 
said. 

* '  What  do  you  want  to  do  ?  "  Michael  inquired. 


86  ALICE  BLYTHE 

Alice  looked  at  him  seriously  for  a  few  minutes, 
and  then  said  impulsively:  "I  want  to  go  to 
France,  Michael,  and  I  believe  you  could  help  me 
win  Dad  over,  if  you  only  would." 

Dr.  Jepson  whistled,  but  he  saw  by  Alice's  face 
that  she  was  very  serious. 

"I  might  at  that,  Cricket,"  he  replied  slowly. 
"I  am  going  over  myself  next  week, — M 

"Come  into  the  Library,"  Alice  interrupted  ex- 
citedly, "we  can  talk  better  there." 

Michael  did  not  leave  the  Blythes'  until  an  hour 
later,  and  when  he  did,  Alice  had  his  solemn 
promise  that  he  would  say  what  he  could  to  per- 
suade her  parents  to  let  her  go  out  with  his  Unit 
the  following  week. 

After  he  left  she  went  up  to  her  room  with  a 
smile  of  satisfaction.  She  was  just  ready  to  climb 
into  bed  when  her  father  returned.  She  heard 
him  cross  the  hall  and  stop  at  the  bottom  of  the 
stairs,  then  he  called,  "Cricket,  come  down  here," 
and  his  voice  sounded  very  stern. 

Alice  slipped  on  a  dressing  gown  and  stood  be- 
fore him  a  few  minutes  later  in  the  Library. 

"I  happened  to  drop  in  at  the  club  and  met  the 


THE  RIDE  TO  TOWN  87 

Major,"  he  said  after  a  silence  that  had  lasted  for 
a  long  time ;  then  he  laughed. 

"Cricket,  you  ought  not  to  have  offered  to  drive 
him  in,  and  you  know  it.  And  when  I  think  of 
the  time  you  made  it  in — well,  it's  a  wonder  you're 
not  both  dead." 

"But,  Dad,  he  simply  had  to  get  here,  and  there 
was  no  other  way,"  Alice  replied  gently,  "and 
you  know  I  'm  pretty  used  to  driving  the  car  now. ' ' 

"Yes,  so  I  hear,"  Dr.  Blythe  looked  at  his 
daughter. 

It  may  truly  be  said  that  it  was  the  first  time 
he  had  an  opportunity  to  give  her  more  than  a 
glance  since  the  beginning  of  the  war.  And  he 
thought  she  looked  very  tall  and  strong  as  she 
stood  before  him  in  her  white  dressing  gown. 

"It's  my  fault,"  he  said  at  last,  and  paused. 
"The  Major  told  me  about  the  speech  this  after- 
noon, too,"  he  added  smiling. 

"Well,  I  don't  think  that  was  very  nice  of  him," 
Alice  exclaimed,  "after  I  got  him  here  in  time  for 
his  old  meeting,  too.    Wait  till  I  see  him." 

Her  father  laughed  appreciatively,  then  he  said 
gravely, 


88  ALICE  BLYTHE 

"Upon  my  soul,  Cricket,  I  don't  know  what  to 
do  about  you.' * 

He  stood  up  and  put  his  arm  around  her. 

"But  it's  too  late  to  decide  to-night,  isn't  it? 
So  you'd  better  run  along  back  to  bed." 

Alice  kissed  him. 

"I'll  tell  you  what  to  do,  Daddy,"  she  said 
gayly.  "Ask  Michael  Jepson's  advice  to-morrow 
morning,  and  do  just  what  he  tells  you." 

"Michael!  what  does  he  know  about  it?"  Dr. 
Blythe  looked  bewildered;  but  his  daughter  was 
half  way  up  the  stairs,  and  she  did  not  stop  to  ex- 
plain. 


CHAPTER  IX 

OFF   TO   FBA2TCE 

THE  week  that  followed  was  a  busy  one  even 
for  war  times.  There  were  discussions 
and  consultations  that  lasted  late  into  the 
night,  behind  the  closed  door  of  the  Blythes'  li- 
brary. Alice,  tossing  in  bed  upstairs  in  her  own 
room,  waited  for  the  final  decision,  and  sometimes 
felt  that  every  one  but  herself  was  to  have  a  hand 
in  her  ultimate  destiny.  She  put  her  faith  in 
Michael,  and  the  results  proved  that  she  had  not 
trusted  him  in  vain.  For  Michael  did  succeed  in 
winning  her  wish  for  her  in  spite  of  all  opposition. 
"She's  determined  to  go,  sir,  so  why  not  let 
her?"  he  said  to  Dr.  Blythe.  "We  can  arrange 
easily  enough,  you  know  that.  I'll  take  her  along 
as  my  clerk,  or  something.  Once  over,  you  know, 
even  at  a  Base  Hospital,  she'll  see  enough  terrible 
sights  to  make  her  want  to  come  back  in  no  time." 
As  this  was  not  Michael's  first  trip  to  France  he 
knew  what  he  was  talking  about. 

89 


90  ALICE  BLYTIIE 

"But  she'll  be  in  your  way,"  the  Doctor  pro- 
tested, "and  this  is  no  time  to  humor  a  child's 
whim." 

Michael  interrupted.  "There's  plenty  to  do, 
and  I  can  promise  you  she'll  really  be  useful  while 
she's  there.  And  of  course  as  my  clerk  I  can  keep 
an  eye  on  her  officially,  and  Lady  Harden  will  do 
the  rest." 

Lady  Harden  was  a  friend  of  Mrs.  Blythe's, 
and  in  charge  of  the  Base  Hospital  to  which 
Michael  was  going. 

"By  the  time  I'm  fit  to  go  back  to  the  front 
dressing  stations,  she  '11  be  ready  and  glad  enough 
to  come  home.  See  if  she  isn't,"  Michael  added. 
He  argued  so  well  that  at  last  the  Doctor  and  Mrs. 
Blythe  gave  in. 

"Eemember,  it's  your  doing,"  the  Doctor  said 
at  last;  and  Michael  left  the  house  feeling  very 
much  like  a  man  who  suddenly  finds  himself  hold- 
ing on  to  a  bomb  with  the  fuse  lit,  without  being 
able  to  drop  it. 

He  saw  little  of  Alice  in  the  days  that  followed, 
for  he  was  very  busy  and  she  went  down  to  Little 
Petstone  to  say  good-by  to  the  aunts. 

It  was  not  until  the  Channel  steamer  had  left 


OFF  TO  FRANCE  91 

the  dock  that  they  had  time  to  take  stock  of  each 
other.  They  were  standing  side  by  side  on  the 
deck  at  the  stern  of  the  boat,  to  get  the  last  glimpse 
of  the  white  cliffs  of  Dover,  when  Alice  said  im- 
pulsively: "I  say,  Michael,  you're  no  end  of  a 
good  sport.  I  haven't  had  a  chance  to  thank  you 
properly,  but  you  understand  I'm  most  awfully 
grateful,  don't  you?" 

The  Doctor  laughed.  "Nonsense,  Cricket,  you 
know  you  always  get  your  own  way  in  the  end.  I 
just  happened  to  speed  things  up  this  time,  and 
well — I'm  blessed  if  I  know  why  I  did  it." 

"But  Michael,  you're  not  sorry  I'm  going,  are 
you?"  Alice  asked,  a  hurt  note  in  her  voice. 

"No,  of  course  I'm  not."  The  Doctor  was 
quick  to  reply.  "That  is,  if  you'll  promise  to  be 
good  and  not  get  into  too  much  trouble  when  I 
happen  to  be  busy. ' ' 

"Why,  I  won't  have  time  to  get  into  trouble," 
Alice  protested,  and  then  as  she  saw  the  worried 
expression  on  the  Doctor's  face,  she  said  seri- 
ously: "Michael,  you  and  I  have  got  to  come  to 
an  understanding.  I  thought  you  realized  that  I 
— well,  no  matter  what  I  thought,  I  can  see  now 
that  you  just  did  this  to  let  me  have  my  own  way, 


92  ALICE  BLYTHE 

and  you  don't  think  that  I'm  going  to  be  any 
earthly  use  over  there. ' '  She  paused  and  pointed 
an  accusing  finger.  "I  suppose  you  think  I'll  get 
tired  of  it  in  a  little  while  and  want  to  go  home. 
Well,  you'll  see  how  wrong  you  are." 

Michael  did  not  contradict.  She  had  read  his 
inmost  thoughts,  and  he  was  embarrassed. 

"I'm  going  to  work  hard,"  Alice  continued.  "I 
can  scrub  floors  if  I  can't  do  anything  else." 

"But  you're  going  in  the  official  capacity  of  my 
clerk,"  Michael  protested,  grinning. 

"Bot,"  Alice  replied  shortly;  "you  know  per- 
fectly well,  Michael  Jepson,  that  you  never  had  a 
clerk  and  never  wanted  one.  Of  course,  if  you  in- 
sist I  am  perfectly  willing  to  try  to  keep  your 
records  for  you,  and  I'll  feed  all  those  caged  mi- 
crobes you're  taking  over,  if  you  like." 

*  *  Heaven  forbid ! ' '  Michael  exclaimed.  * '  Don 't 
you  dare  try  it.  I  never  let  any  one  monkey  with 
my  records,  and  as  for  my  new  serum — " 

"Well,  then?"  Alice  inquired  calmly. 

Michael  shrugged  his  shoulders  in  despair. 

"Oh,  scrub  your  floors,  wash  dishes,  do  any- 
thing, I  won't  interfere,"  he  said  laughing.  "In 
other  words,  Cricket,  have  your  own  way.    Only 


OFF  TO  FRANCE  93 

promise  me  that  you  won 't  do  anything  very  out- 
rageous." 

Alice  held  out  her  hand  and  sighed,  a  deep  sigh 
of  contentment.  "I'll  promise,  Michael.  I  only 
wanted  to  be  sure  that  you  wouldn't  interfere  if 
a  really  truly  chance  came  for  me  to  do  something 
worth  while.  And  now  that  it's  settled  let's  go 
see  what  the  others  are  doing." 

They  walked  forward  and  entered  the  cabin. 

Dr.  Jepson  was  in  charge  of  a  Unit,  composed  of 
a  few  nurses  who  were  going  out  for  the  first  time, 
some  stretcher-bearers  returning  after  a  rest  in 
England,  and  several  other  people  who  filled  vari- 
ous clerical  positions.  Alice  did  not  like  any  of 
them  particularly.  The  nurses  were  all  older  than 
she  was  by  several  years,  and  she  had  an  absurd 
notion  that  they  all  knew  she  was  only  masquerad- 
ing ;  so  she  stayed  beside  Michael  and  gripped  his 
arm  tightly  as  the  French  coast  came  into  sight. 

There  was  a  special  train  waiting  at  Calais  to 
take  them  south  to  their  Base,  but  it  was  several 
hours  before  all  the  formalities,  the  necessary  ex- 
aminations and  preparations  were  over,  and  they 
were  ready  to  start.  Dr.  Jepson  was  very  busy 
superintending  the  transfer  of  the  luggage  from 


94  ALICE  BLYTHE 

the  boat  to  the  train.  Alice  waited  for  him  under 
a  shed  by  the  door.  There  were  several  boxes  of 
supplies  there  and  she  selected  one  to  sit  on.  She 
was  alone  and  had  time  to  look  about  her.  Apart 
from  the  men  in  khaki,  and  the  general  state  of 
desertion  she  did  not  see  anything  that  looked  at 
all  like  war. 

Then  the  rumble  of  a  train  made  her  start,  and 
for  a  second  she  thought  that  the  others  had  gone 
on  and  left  her;  but  she  saw  Michael,  hot  and 
dusty,  a  little  way  down  the  dock,  and  settled  her- 
self once  more  on  the  packing  box.  But  in  a  few 
moments  she  sat  up  very  straight  and  looked  hard 
before  her.  She  could  scarcely  believe  her  ears 
or  her  eyes.  She  heard  singing  at  first,  and  then 
saw  a  long  procession  of  stretcher-bearers  come 
into  view  from  around  the  station  shed.  Each 
pair  carried  a  wounded  soldier.  Alice  caught  her 
breath  as  she  looked.  Men  with  their  faces  band- 
aged, men  with  their  arms  in  slings,  some  whose 
faces  were  disfigured  hideously,  some  who  would 
never  walk  again.  They  all  filed  past  her,  their 
eyes  fastened  on  the  gray  hospital  ship  that  was 
tied  up  beside  the  dock,  and  they  were  all  doing 
their  best  to  sing. 


OFF  TO  FRANCE  95 

Alice  watched  them  being  carried  on  board  with- 
out moving.  She  had  seen  plenty  of  wounded  sol- 
diers in  the  London  hospitals,  but  they  always 
looked  quite  comfortable  in  their  white  cots. 
These  men  were  different,  they  carried  the  spirit 
of  war  with  them.  She  wanted  to  cheer,  but  there 
was  an  unaccountable  lump  in  her  throat,  and  she 
couldn  't.  It  was  partly  the  sight  of  the  stretchers 
that  affected  her — she  had  never  seen  men  carried 
on  stretchers  before, — but  it  was  mostly  the  sound 
of  their  singing.  There  were  only  a  handful  of 
men,  and  they  were  singing  because  they  were 
going  back  to  " Blighty,* ■  but  it  was  the  first  time 
Alice  had  come  face  to  face  with  the  dauntless 
spirit  that  is  so  characteristic  of  the  soldier  to- 
day, and  it  gave  her  something  to  think  about. 
She  hardly  heard  Michael's  cheery,  "Come  along, 
Cricket,"  as  he  hurried  her  to  the  train.  And  all 
through  the  tiresome  trip  that  followed — they 
were  shut  up  in  a  hot,  stuffy  compartment,  the 
windows  closed  tight  and  the  blinds  down, — she 
kept  thinking  of  those  wounded  men,  and  the  ri- 
diculous song  they  had  tried  so  pluckily  to  sing. 


CHAPTER  X 

HELEN   CABEY 

THEY  did  not  reach  their  destination  nntil 
the  afternoon  of  the  second  day.  It  had 
been  a  very  slow,  tedious  trip,  and  every 
one  except  Alice  looked  thoroughly  tired  out  on 
their  arrival. 

"I  say,  Cricket,  you're  so  wonderfully  fit  that 
it  makes  me  angry  to  look  at  you."  Dr.  Jepson 
said,  as  they  climbed  into  the  automobiles  that 
were  waiting  for  them  at  the  tiny  little  station. 

"Then  don't  look  at  me,"  Alice  teased;  "I  told 
you  I  was  a  good  traveler,  and  you  wouldn't  be- 
lieve it.  Please  tell  Dad  how  fit  I  am  when  you 
write." 

"Well  you  must  be  tired,  even  if  you  don't  look 
it,"  said  one  of  the  nurses  crossly. 

"But  I'm  not,"  Alice  denied,  "I'm  hungry, 

though,  and  I  do  think  it's  awfully  jolly  to  see  the 

sky  again." 

97 


98  ALICE  BLYTHE 

The  nurse  looked  at  her  shining  eyes  and  felt  a 
tinge  of  envy. 

The  hospital  was  an  old  Chateau,  set  in  the 
midst  of  shady  woods.  There  was  nothing  about 
it  to  suggest  war,  and  Alice,  as  she  walked  through 
the  great  front  door,  felt  a  little  impatient.  Ever 
since  she  had  seen  the  men  on  the  stretchers  the 
day  before,  her  mind  had  been  keyed  to  a  high 
pitch,  and  she  had  been  able  to  feel  that  the  war 
was  just  around  the  corner;  but  now  it  seemed 
further  away  than  ever. 

Lady  Harden,  who  was  at  the  head  of  the  Hos- 
pital, was  waiting  in  the  great  hall  to  receive  them. 
She  greeted  each  of  the  nurses,  and  sent  them  to 
their  respective  rooms  in  a  quiet  business-like  way. 
Alice  entered  last  with  the  Doctor,  and  when  Lady 
Harden  saw  her,  she  smiled  for  the  first  time. 

* '  Maude 's  daughter,  of  course, ' '  she  said  kindly, 
and  shook  Alice's  hand.  "I  haven't  just  decided 
where  to  put  you,  my  dear.  You'll  want  to  be 
near  the  Doctor's  office,  of  course." 

"That  really  won't  be  a  bit  necessary,"  Michael 
explained  hastily;  "you  see,  I  won't  need  Miss 
Blytne  much  of  the  time,  and — " 

Alice's  laughter  interrupted  him.    She  was  still 


HELEN  CAREY  99 

holding  Lady  Harden 's  hand.  She  squeezed  it 
gently  as  she  said:  "What  Dr.  Jepson  really 
means  is,  that  he'd  much  rather  I'd  be  as  far  away 
from  his  office  as  possible.  He's  deathly  afraid 
I  might  some  day  disarrange  his  papers.' ' 

"But,  my  dear,  I  thought  I  understood  from  the 
letter  I  received  that  you  were  coming  out  to  act 
as  his  clerk,  and  take  care  of  his  records." 

Alice  shook  her  head. 

* '  Not  really,  Lady  Harden.  I  came  out  to  work. 
I  just  had  to  get  here,  and  one  excuse  was  as  good 
as  another.  Isn't  there  something  you  can  give 
me  to  do?" 

Lady  Harden  looked  surprised  for  a  minute, 
and  then  she  laughed.  "Any  amount  of  things, 
my  dear,"  she  replied.  "I'm  glad  I  understand. 
You  see  I  thought  you  were  coming  as  a  sort  of 
secretary  and  assistant  to  the  Doctor,  and  well,  of 
course,  now  I  see.  We  've  a  young  American  girl 
here.  She 's  a  bit  older  than  you  are,  I  think,  but 
she's  splendid,  and  I  know  you'll  like  her.  She's 
really  doing  two  men's  work  instead  of  one  slight 
girl's,  and  I'll  let  you  help  her.  It's — it's  rather 
hard  work,  you  know,"  she  added  as  she  sent  an 
orderly  down  to  the  kitchen  with  a  message. 


100  ALICE  BLYTHE 

"That's  all  I'm  good  for,"  Alice  replied,  "and 
I  don't  care  how  hard  it  is,  so  long  as  it's  real 
work." 

Lady  Harden  nodded  approvingly,  and  turned 
to  Michael. 

"I'm  glad  you  are  better,  Doctor,  but  you 
mustn't  be  in  too  great  a  hurry  to  leave  us  for  the 
Front.  I'll  take  over  your  charge  from  now  on," 
she  finished  laughing.  "You'll  find  your  office  at 
the  end  of  this  hall,  and  there's  no  need  of  your 
taking  up  your  duties  at  once.  We're  not  very 
busy  just  for  the  moment." 

Michael  nodded.  "Thank  you,  I'll  go  unpack, 
if  you'll  pardon  me.  And  I'm  awfully  obliged 
about  Cricket,"  he  added.  "I  was  beginning  to 
feel  rather  guilty." 

He  picked  up  his  bag  and  hurried  down  the  hall, 
just  as  a  slight  girl,  dressed  in  a  very  soiled  riding 
habit,  appeared  from  the  other  direction. 

* '  Oh,  here  you  are, '  ■  Lady  Harden  said.  "  I  Ve 
found  some  one  to  help  you  at  last.  This  is  Miss 
Blythe,  Miss  Carey." 

The  two  girls  shook  hands  and  their  eyes  met 
in  appraisal. 


HELEN  CAREY  101 

Helen  Carey  was  the  first  to  speak.  "I'm  aw- 
fully glad  you've  come,,,  she  said  simply. 

"Take  her  to  your  room,  will  you  please,  my 
dear.  For  the  present,  she'll  have  to  stay  with 
you, ' '  Lady  Harden  directed.  *  *  And  now  I  must 
leave  you.  If  you  want  anything  particularly, 
Alice,  I  am  always  in  my  office  between  seven  and 
nine."  She  smiled  and  walked  briskly  away, 
leaving  the  girls  alone. 

"I  say,  I  hope  I'm  not  inconveniencing  you," 
Alice  said,  picking  up  her  bag. 

"Not  a  bit  of  it,"  Helen  replied  cheerfully,  "my 
quarters  aren't  just  what  you'd  call  spacious,  but 
there's  an  extra  bed,  and  I'll  be  awfully  glad  to 
have  some  one  in  it. ' '  She  led  the  way  through  the 
main  hall  of  the  Chateau,  down  a  pair  of  stairs,  out 
through  a  back  door  and  across  a  courtyard  to  the 
stable. 

"Do  you  mean  to  say  you  live  over  the  stable? 
How  ripping!"  Alice  exclaimed,  as  she  followed. 

"Well,  it  was  the  stable  before  the  war,  I  sup- 
pose," Helen  explained.  "But  it's  not  any  more, 
it's  a  sort  of  convalescent  ward  on  the  ground 
floor,  and  a  bunk-house  up  above." 


102  ALICE  BLYTHE 

She  led  the  way  up  a  spiral  staircase  to  a 
small  room  furnished  with  two  cot  beds  and  a 
packing  box. 

Alice  put  down  her  bag,  and  after  looking  about 
her  for  a  minute  she  sat  down  on  one  of  the  beds 
and  began  to  laugh. 

"Thank  goodness !"  Helen  exclaimed  with  re- 
lief; "the  last  girl  I  brought  up  here  cried  for 
three  hours.' ' 

"Cried?"  Alice  inquired.  "Now,  why?  I 
think  this  is  just  about  tip-top.  I  suppose  it  was 
the  stable  boys'  quarters  once.  Oh,  wait  till 
Michael  sees  it,"  she  added,  and  then  slowly  and 
between  chuckles  she  explained  who  Michael  was. 
"And  now,"  she  finished,  "that  I've  told  you 
most  of  my  life's  history,  will  you  please  tell  me 
what  you're  doing  over  here?" 

Helen  shook  her  head.  "If  you're  going  to 
help  me  you'll  find  out  soon  enough,"  she  replied, 
laughing.    "I  never  worked  so  hard  in  my  life." 

' '  But  why  did  you  come  ? ' '  Alice  insisted.  ' '  Of 
course,  don't  tell  me  if  you'd  rather  not,"  she 
added. 

"  Oh,  I  '11  tell  you, ' '  Helen  replied, « '  but  it 's  hard 
to  know  where  to  start.    "You  see,  when  the  war 


HELEN  CAREY  103 

broke  out,  my  brother  joined,  of  course,  and  so 
did  some  of  the  other  men  of  our  outfit." 

"Outfit !"  Alice  inquired. 

Helen  smiled  and  explained. 

"Oh,  I  see,  you  live  on  a  ranch  in  the  West. 
How  perfectly  exciting!  I  know  all  about  them 
because,  of  course,  I've  read  "The  Virginian,'  " 
Alice  said.    "Go  on." 

"Well,  I  just  naturally  couldn't  stand  the  lone- 
liness of  the  place  after  the  boys  left,  so  I  made 
Dad  let  me  go  East,  and  take  a  course  in  First 
Aid,  but — I  really  didn't  intend  coming  over  until 
Allen  came." 

"Is  Allen  in  your  outfit?"  Alice  interrupted. 

Helen  flushed.  "No,  not  exactly,"  she  replied; 
"you  see  I'm — engaged  to  him,  and — " 

"Oh,  I  see,  I'm  most  awfully  sorry  for  being 
so  beastly  inquisitive.  Do  forgive  me,"  Alice 
begged. 

"Oh,  that's  all  right,"  Helen  assured  her,  "I 
can't  get  used  to  saying  it,  that's  all.  You  see 
we  haven't  been,  very  long.  Well  anyway,  Allen 
came  over  with  the  Engineers,  and  well,  you  know 
when  you  suddenly  make  up  your  mind  to  do  a 
wild  thing,  how  it  is  f  " 


104  ALICE  BLYTHE 

Alice  nodded  understandingly. 

"Well,  I  made  up  my  mind  to  come  over.  A 
girl  I  know  was  ready  to  start  but  suddenly  lost 
her  nerve,  so  I  took  her  place.  There  wasn't 
time  to  ask  many  questions  and  I  looked  strong, 
and  that's  the  main  thing." 

"But  you  aren't  doing  First  Aid,"  Alice  pro- 
tested. 

Helen  held  up  two  very  dirty  hands  rough  from 
work. 

"I  am  not,"  she  said  smiling.  "I  found  out 
that  there  were  other  things  to  do  beside  nurse, 
and  I  've  been  doing  them.  And  of  course,  I  didn  't 
come  as  a  nurse,  but  just  as  a  helper." 

There  was  a  pause,  in  which  Alice  looked  long 
and  approvingly  at  the  muddy  khaki  skirt  of  her 
companion. 

"I  think  you're  ripping,"  she  said  at  last,  "and 
I'm  no  end  glad  I've  found  you.  You  tell  me 
what  to  do  and  I'll  do  it.  I'm  simply  crazy  to 
get  my  hands  as  dirty  as  yours.  Wait  a  second 
until  I  change  into  something  sensible,  and  let's 
start." 

The  change  was  soon  made,  and  Helen  began 
showing  Alice  the  various  tasks  for  which  she  was 


HELEN  CAREY  105 

responsible.  They  consisted  in  working  in  the 
garden,  cleaning  automobiles,  and  doing  the  left- 
over jobs  that  the  few  overworked  orderlies  could 
not  accomplish. 

Alice  was  very  hungry  when  dinner  time  came, 
and  she  was  only  too  glad  to  take  Helen's  sug- 
gestion and  go  to  bed  early.  They  would  both 
have  liked  to  stay  awake  and  talk,  but  they  were 
much  too  sleepy. 

Michael  Jepson,  looking  out  of  his  window  a 
little  before  eight  o'clock,  smiled  as  he  saw  the 
light  go  out  in  the  turret  room.  "I'm  not  so  sure 
I  was  right  about  Cricket,"  he  said  to  himself. 
"She's  made  a  pretty  thorough  start  for  her  first 
day,  I  should  say." 


CHAPTER  XI 

A   STRANGE   REUNION 

TWO  weeks  later  found  Alice  still  at  her 
post,  working  hard  beside  Helen.  Her 
hands  had  attained  the  desired  rough 
look  that  she  had  so  envied,  and  the  whole  hospital 
staff  were  learning  to  depend  on  her  to  do  what- 
ever they  asked,  willingly  and  without  comment, 
as  they  had  weeks  before  learned  to  depend  on 
Helen. 

The  two  girls  had  grown  to  be  close  friends,  and 
when  there  was  time  for  it  they  enjoyed  exchang- 
ing confidences.  Alice  learned  all  about  "  Shoul- 
ders," the  favorite  cowpuncher  on  the  Carey 
ranch,  and  was  as  interested  in  his  letters,  written 
vaguely  from  "Somewhere  in  France,"  as  Helen 
was  herself.  Helen  in  turn  took  a  lively  interest 
in  Peter  and  Captain  Blythe.  It  was  while  they 
were  discussing  the  latter  one  day  that  they  made 
a  curious  discovery.  They  were  both  busy  in  the 
garden  when  the  conversation  took  place. 

107 


108  ALICE  BLYTHE 

"I  wish  I  could  hear  from  Gibbie,"  Alice  said, 
as  she  rested  a  moment  and  leaned  on  the  hoe. 
"I'm  so  afraid  he's  doing  some  risky  stunt  again. 
He's  always  poking  about  in  dangerous  corners, 
trying  to  find  out  things.' f 

"He  must  be  great,"  Helen  said  enthusiasti- 
cally.   "I  love  men  that  do  queer  things." 

"I  do,  too,"  Alice  agreed,  "but  it's  most  awfully 
aggravating  when  you  know  that  your  only 
brother  has  been  back  of  the  German  lines  and 
he  can't  tell  you  how  he  got  there." 

"Has  he,  really!  Do  you  mean  he  dressed  up 
as  a  peasant,  or  something?"  Helen  inquired. 
"How  thrilling!" 

"I  don't  know  a  thing  about  it,  really,"  Alice 
answered,  resuming  her  work.  "We  didn't  hear 
from  him  for  ages,  and  then  I  got  a  queer  letter 
that  only  hinted  at  the  most  exciting  adventures. 
It  was  mostly  about  the  retaking  of  Zandre,  that 
Belgian  village,  you  know,  and  he  raved  about  a 
little  Belgian  girl  with  an  unpronounceable  name ; 
said  she  was  the  real  heroine  of  the  attack,  and 
ended  up  by  asking  me  to  buy  her  a  white  dress 
with  a  blue  ribbon.    And  that's  every  word  I've 


11  'Why,  that's  the  most  thrilling  thing  I  ever  heard'  " 

Page  111 

109 


A  STKANGE  KEUNION  111 

heard,  except  a  note  a  little  later  saying  he'd  re- 
ceived the  dress,  and  that  Marieken  was  delighted 
with  it.  I  don't  know  where  he  is  now,  but 
Michael's  trying  to  find  out  for  me." 

Helen  did  not  reply  at  once;  she  regarded  a 
clod  of  dirt  that  she  had  just  turned  over,  in- 
tently. * '  What  did  you  say  the  girl 's  name  was  ? ' ' 
she  asked  at  last. 

"Marieken,"  Alice  replied,  "and  her  last  name 
was  DeBruin,  I  think.  Why  what 's  the  matter  1 ' ' 
she  demanded  at  Helen's  look  of  excited  surprise. 

"Why,  that's  the  most  thrilling  thing  I  ever 
heard.  When  I  was  at  boarding  school  last 
winter,  I  adopted  a  Belgian  soldier,  his  name  was 
Henri  DeBruin,  and  the  last  letter  I  had  from 
him  he  spoke  of  his  brave  little  sister,  Marieken. 
Do  you  suppose  it  could  be  the  same  one?" 

"Why,  I  never  heard  anything  so  exciting!  Of 
course  it  must  be,"  Alice  exclaimed.  "How 
simply  thrilling!  Gib  said  in  one  of  his  letters 
that  the  brother  had  been  wounded  and  was  in 
the  same  village  with  his  mother  and  little  sister. 
Now  if  we  only  knew  where  that  was.  I'll  try 
to  make  Michael  find  out." 


112  ALICE  BLYTHE 

"Do  you  suppose  that  if  it  wasn't  too  far  away 
we  could  get  a  day  of?  and  go  to  see  them?"  Helen 
inquired. 

"That's  just  exactly  what  I  was  thinking," 
Alice  replied;  "we'll  find  out  anyway." 

They  returned  to  their  work  with  excited  vigor 
until  the  bugle  summoned  them  to  their  midday 
meal.  Just  as  they  sat  down  to  the  long  table 
an  orderly  came  up  to  Alice. 

"Dr.  Jepson  wants  you  in  his  office,  Miss. 
Gentleman  to  see  you,  I  think,"  he  added. 
"There's  a  big  gray  car  out  front." 

Alice  jumped  up  excitedly  and  hurried  across 
to  the  Chateau,  and  upstairs  to  the  Doctor's  office. 

"What's  up,  Michael?"  she  demanded  from  the 
doorway,  "any  news  from  Peter?" 

"Well,  I  like  that!  She  asks  for  her  cousin 
before  she  asks  for  her  brother,"  a  voice  over  by 
the  window  drawled. 

Alice  turned  and  looked.  "Gibbie!"  she  ex- 
claimed, "how  simply  ripping!  I've  been  think- 
ing of  you  all  morning.  Where  did  you  come 
from?" 

Captain  Blythe  regarded  his  sister  in  surprise 


A  STRANGE  REUNION  113 

"I  say,  Cricket,  but  you  are  grown  up, — but  how 
awfully  grubby, "  was  all  he  could  find  to  say. 

"Never  mind  that,"  Alice  insisted.  "Tell  me 
how  you  got  here.  Michael,  I  believe  you  knew 
he  was  coming." 

Dr.  Jepson,  at  his  desk,  looked  up  and  grinned. 
"I  did,  Cricket,  in  fact,  I  used  every  means  I  could 
find  to  get  him  here,  and  now  I  see  I  should  have 
gotten  Peter  instead." 

"Nonsense,  I'm  much  gladder  to  see  Gibbie,  and 
you  know  it. ' '  Alice  flushed.  A  new  element  was 
creeping  into  her  thoughts  about  Peter,  and  she 
resented  it.  "I  Ve  a  thousand  things  to  tell  you, ' ' 
she  went  on  hastily  to  her  brother,  "so  sit  down." 

Captain  Blythe  selected  a  big  cozy  chair,  and 
Alice  perched  on  the  arm  of  it.  In  half -broken, 
excited  sentences  she  told  him  about  Helen  Carey 
and  their  common  interest  in  the  De  Bruin  family. 

"Are  they  very  far  from  here,  Gibbie?"  she 
inquired,  "and  do  you  think  we  could  go  to  see 
them?    It  would  be  such  a  lark." 

Captain  Blythe  considered  as  he  lighted  a  fresh 
cigarette. 

"I  say,  that  is  rather  a  strange  coincidence, 


114  ALICE  BLYTHE 

isn't  it?"  he  said  at  last.  "As  it  happens  they 
are  not  far  from  here.  If  you  can  get  off,  I'll 
run  you  over  to  see  them  this  afternoon.  It's 
on  my  road  and  I'll  find  some  way  to  get  you 
back." 

Alice  looked  appealingly  at  Michael.  "Do  you 
think  we  could?"  she  asked  softly. 

*  *  How  do  I  know  ? ' '  Dr.  Jepson  replied ; ' '  you  're 
not  my  clerk  any  more,  remember,  and  from  what 
I  gather  from  Lady  Harden,  you  and  that  Miss 
Carey  are  the  only  people  who  really  work  on  the 
place." 

"But,  Michael,  if  you  asked  her,"  Alice  teased, 
"we've  really  very  little  to  do  this  afternoon." 

"Ha,  ha,  I  knew  that  was  coming!  Gilbert, 
that  sister  of  yours  is  the  bane  of  my  existence, ' ' 
Michael  replied  sternly.  "Child,"  he  turned  to 
Alice,  "go  and  get  ready.  I'll  talk  to  Lady  Har- 
den." 

"Oh,  Michael,  you  darling!"  Alice  exclaimed, 
and  hurried  to  Helen  to  tell  her  the  exciting  news. 

A  half  hour  later  they  were  sitting  on  either 
side  of  Captain  Blythe,  and  the  big  gray  army  car 
was  headed  towards  Fleurette. 

"I  feel  as  if  I  could  pick  out  Henri  from  a  hun- 


A  STKANGE  REUNION  115 

dred  soldiers,' '  Helen  laughed.  "IVe  had  so 
many  letters  from  him,  it  seems  funny  to  realize  I 
don't  really  know  him." 

"He's  rather  a  fine  chap,  I  hear,"  Captain 
Blythe  replied;  "he  was  very  shy  the  day  I  met 
him.  But  wait  till  you  see  my  little  Marieken, — 
she's  the  really  important  member  of  the  family." 

"Tell  us  what  she  did,"  Alice  demanded. 
"Your  letters  about  her  have  driven  me  crazy." 

"All  right,"  the  Captain  agreed,  "you  really 
ought  to  hear  something  about  her  really  to  appre- 
ciate her." 

The  recital  of  Marieken 's  bravery  lasted  until 
they  reached  the  main  street  of  Fleurette,  and 
Alice  and  Helen  were  so  excited  that  when  the  car 
stopped  at  the  hospital  they  would  not  have  been 
surprised  if  Joan  of  Arc,  arrayed  in  a  full  suit  of 
armor,  had  ridden  out  to  meet  them. 

Miss  Brooks,  the  capable  American  woman  who 
was  at  the  head  of  the  Hospital,  received  them  en- 
thusiastically. She  remembered  Captain  Blythe, 
and  from  Henri  she  had  heard  much  of  Helen. 
She  took  them  out  to  the  side  lawn  where  Henri 
was  sitting  smoking  contentedly  with  some  of  his 
comrades.    Then  she  sent  off  a  message  to  Marie- 


116  ALICE  BLYTHE 

ken,  who  was  as  busy  as  ever  in  the  kitchen. 

The  meeting  was  a  curious  one  in  many  respects. 
Henri  was  overjoyed  at  seeing  his  "Marraine," 
but  he  was  very  shy,  and  Helen  did  most  of  the 
talking.  Marieken,  on  the  other  hand,  was  de- 
lighted to  talk.  She  chattered  to  Captain  Blythe 
in  her  rapid  French,  stopping  now  and  then  to 
answer  a  question  from  Alice,  and  laughed  gayly 
at  the  slightest  provocation.  She  held  the  Cap- 
tain's hand  all  the  time. 

Alice  felt  like  an  outsider.  She  talked  to  Miss 
Brooks  and  some  of  the  nurses,  and  tried  not  to 
feel  jealous  as  she  watched  the  others.  But  the 
thought  that  each  one  of  them  had  won  honor  and 
respect  by  some  individual  deed  of  courage  made 
her  feel  suddenly  very  unimportant.  She  did  not 
realize  that  to  both  of  the  girls  the  chance  had 
come.  Marieken 's  in  Zandre  and  Helen's  back  in 
the  United  States,  and  that  perhaps  her  oppor- 
tunity was  waiting  for  her  not  far  ahead. 

Her  unhappy  thoughts  were  suddenly  inter- 
rupted by  Captain  Blythe  as  he  exclaimed.  "By 
Jove!  I  didn't  know  it  was  so  late.  We  must 
be  going.  Come  along,  both  of  you,  I  '11  take  you 
to  the  station.    Miss  Brooks  says  that  the  trains 


A  STRANGE  REUNION  117 

are  running  after  a  fashion,  and  you'll  get  home 
sometime  to-night.  Don't  mind  going  without 
your  dinner,  do  you?"  he  asked  laughing.  "I'd 
take  you  back,  but  I  have  to  report  fifty  miles 
north  to-night,  and  I  can't  chance  being  late." 

"Oh,  it  has  been  such  a  nice  afternoon,  Cap- 
tain," Helen  replied,  "that  I  wouldn't  mind  going 
without  fifty  dinners.  Good-by,  Henri,"  she  con- 
tinued, taking  the  soldier's  hand,  "I  hope  I'll  see 
you  again  soon." 

"You  are  so  very  kind,"  Henri  replied  shyly. 
"You  have  given  me  so  much  of  happiness  this 
afternoon.  And  now — "  he  looked  downcast, 
"you  are  going,  and  I  have  not  so  much  as  started 
to  thank  you  for  your  letters  of  last  winter. 
Always  in  the  trenches  I  would  say  to  myself,  if 
some  day  I  meet  my  little  Marraine,  I  will  thank 
her  properly,  and — now,"  he  shrugged  his  shoul- 
ders, "I  have  been  able  to  say  no  word." 

"Nonsense,"  Helen  laughed,  "you've  been 
thanking  me  all  afternoon,  and  besides  I'll  see  you 
again  soon,  and  next  time  I'll  see  if  I  can't  bring 
you  some  tobacco,"  she  promised. 

Marieken  said  good-by  very  politely  to  them 
all,  sighed  because  they  would  not  stay  and  let 


118  ALICE  BLYTHE 

her  cook  dinner  for  them,  and  finally  kissed  Cap- 
tain Blythe  on  both  cheeks.  "  You  will  come  soon 
again  ? ' p  she  pleaded.  * ■  I  think  of  you,  oh,  so  much 
when  you  are  up  there  near  the  guns,  and  some- 
times I  cry  when  I  dream  you  are  wounded." 

Captain  Blythe  laughed  good-naturedly,  "I 
won't  get  wounded,  Marieken,  I  promise,' '  he 
said.  *  *  So  don 't  worry  your  little  head  any  more. 
Give  my  respects  to  Madame,  your  mother.  I  am 
sorry  we  cannot  stop  in  the  village  to  see  her. 
And  be  good  and  dream  nice  dreams  about  the 
Inn  at  Zandre,  and  what  sport  we'll  have  after 
the  war  is  over,  instead  of  having  nightmares  over 
me." 

Marieken  nodded  happily  and  ran  to  the  gate 
to  wave  them  out  of  sight  as  they  sped  down  the 
dusty  road  towards  the  station. 

Captain  Blythe  left  Alice  and  Helen  on  the  tiny 
platform  to  wait  the  arrival  of  their  train.  * '  You 
can't  go  wrong,  and  remember  the  name  of  your 
station  is  Avenon,"  he  cautioned  them.  "If  you 
can't  get  a  lift,  you'll  have  to  foot  it  back  to  the 
hospital,  but  it's  only  a  couple  of  miles.' * 

"Good-by,  Gibbie,"  Alice  replied,  "I  wish  you 


A  STRANGE  REUNION  119 

didn't  have  to  go  so  soon.  It's  been  no  end  of  a 
lark  seeing  you. ' ' 

"Oh,  I'll  try  to  pop  in  on  you  again,"  the  Cap- 
tain promised.  "In  the  meantime,  though,  I  may 
see  Peter.  I'm  going  to  his  section.  Any  mes- 
sage ?" 

"No,"  Alice  replied  calmly,  "just  good  luck, 
and  tell  him  he's  a  bit  stingy  about  letters." 

The  Captain  looked  at  his  sister,  winked 
solemnly  and  turned  to  Helen.  "Good-by,  Miss 
Carey,  I'm  most  awfully  glad  to  have  met  you." 

"Good-by,"  Helen  replied,  "if  you  hear  any- 
thing about  the  American  troops,  why  let  me  know, 
won't  you?" 

"Well,  rather,"  the  Captain  promised,  as  he 
jumped  back  into  the  car  and  nodded  to  his  driver. 


CHAPTER  Xn 

A   SUDDEN   DECISION 

THE  car  started.  Alice  and  Helen  watched 
until  it  was  lost  from  sight  in  a  cloud  of 
sunlit  dust,  then  they  returned  to  the  plat- 
form to  wait  for  their  train,  which  was  already  two 
hours  late. 

"I'm  hungry,' '  Alice  announced  after  a  little. 

"So  am  I,"  Helen  agreed,  "but  it  doesn't  look 
much  like  food  around  here.  At  best  we're  two 
hours  away  from  dinner,  and  we  may  be  much 
longer  than  that." 

Alice  cast  a  despairing  glance  up  the  track. 
The  rails  glistened  brightly  where  the  rays  of  the 
setting  sun  struck  them,  but  there  was  no  sign  of 
a  train. 

"Let's  ask  the  station  master  when  he  thinks 
the  train  will  come,"  Helen  suggested;  "he's  in 
that  little  house.  You  speak  French,  so  you'll 
have  to  do  it." 

More  for  something  to  do  than  from  any  idea 
121 


122  ALICE  BLYTHE 

of  gaining  information,  they  went  over  to  the  tiny 
well-kept  cottage  and  knocked. 

The  old  station  master  opened  the  door.  He 
was  delighted  to  see  the  young  ladies,  but  he  could 
not  tell  them  when  the  train  was  likely  to  come. 
It  was  all  in  the  hands  of  the  good  God  and  the 
military  authorities,  who  knew  best,  but  he  had 
faith  that  it  would  eventually  arrive. 

Alice  thanked  him  in  her  best  French,  and  she 
and  Helen  crossed  back  to  the  platform  and  sat 
down.  They  waited  for  an  hour.  The  sun  was 
almost  out  of  sight  behind  the  trees,  and  the  clouds 
in  the  west  were  streaked  with  gold,  but  the  glories 
of  the  sunset  were  wasted  on  Alice. 

"If  I  don't  eat  something  soon,  I'll  jolly  well 
die  of  hunger  right  here  on  the  platform,"  she 
said. 

"It's  getting  awfully  late,  look  at  the  sun," 
Helen  pointed.  "Do  you  think  there  is  a  train,  or 
do  you  suppose  it's  just  a  fable?" 

At  this  point  the  door  of  the  little  cottage  across 
the  tracks  opened  and  the  old  man  beckoned.  "It 
is  very  late,  even  for  the  down  train,"  he  said 
when  they  went  to  him.    "I  took  the  liberty  of 


A  SUDDEN  DECISION  123 

thinking  you  might  be  hungry."  He  pointed  to 
a  table  in  the  center  of  his  tiny  room,  on  which 
stood  a  big  bowl  of  berries  and  a  pitcher  of  cream. 

At  the  sight  of  them  Alice  used  all  the  polite 
French  phrases  she  could  remember,  and  then  re- 
sorted to  heartfelt  English. 

"He's  saved  our  lives,  bless  his  dear  heart," 
she  laughed,  "and  I  can't  say  anything  but  *  thank 
you,  Monsieur,  you  are  very  kind,  and  we  are  very 
hungry.'  " 

"Never  mind,  when  he  sees  us  devour  them, 
he'll  understand,"  Helen  replied. 

They  drew  up  two  old  chairs  and  were  just 
seated  at  the  table,  the  tempting  fruit  between 
them,  when  a  shrill  whistle  made  them  jump  to 
their  feet.  The  train  was  at  last  arriving. 
Alice's  look  of  despair  as  she  hurried  with  Helen 
across  the  track  was  comical.  The  old  station 
master  could  not  suppress  a  chuckle  as  he  ran  to 
put  down  the  gates. 

The  train  slowed  up  at  the  station,  a  guard 
pointed  to  an  empty  compartment  and  helped  them 
in  hurriedly,  and  before  they  had  caught  their 
breaths  they  were  on  their  way. 

"That  was  the  crudest  thing  I  ever  had  happen 


124  ALICE  BLYTHE 

to  me  in  all  my  life,"  Alice  groaned.  "The 
thought  of  that  fruit  snatched  from  under  my 
trembling  lips, — it's — it's  a  beastly  shame,  and 
I  'm  twice  as  hungry  as  I  was  before. ' ' 

* '  Never  mind, ' '  Helen  comforted,  *  *  we  '11  be  back 
at  the  Hospital  soon  and  then  we  will  be  sure  of 
an  uninterrupted  meal,  but  I  do  wish  that  dear  old 
man  had  had  his  generous  impulse  a  little  sooner." 

They  settled  back  into  their  corners  and  the 
train  lumbered  along.  It  stopped  every  few  min- 
utes, and  at  one  part  of  the  journey  they  waited 
on  a  siding  for  an  hour.  When  at  last  the  guard 
came  to  their  compartment  to  tell  them  that  the 
next  stop  would  be  Avenon,  it  was  after  eight 
o'clock.  They  were  only  too  glad  to  get  out,  but 
as  they  stood  on  the  little  platform  they  tried 
vainly  to  get  their  bearings,  for  it  was  very  dark, 
and  the  lamp  that  hung  in  the  doorway  of  the 
station  was  the  only  light  in  sight.  The  station 
master,  or  mistress,  for  in  this  case  it  was  a 
woman,  eyed  them  suspiciously. 

"We  are  from  the  Hospital,"  Alice  explained, 
"and  we  would  like  a  carriage  to  drive  us  there. 
Do  you  know  where  we  can  get  one  ? ' ' 

The    Frenchwoman    shrugged    her    shoulders 


A  SUDDEN  DECISION  125 

characteristically  and  told  them  that  there  was  any 
amount  of  carriages  to  be  had  in  the  village,  but 
unfortunately  the  Army  had  taken  all  the  horses. 
Alice  translated  as  best  she  could  to  Helen. 

"I  suppose  that's  funny,"  Helen  said,  "but 
I'm  too  tired  to  see  the  humor  of  it  just  now. 
Ask  her  the  road,  I'm  all  turned  around.  We'll 
have  to  walk." 

The  woman  pointed  vaguely  into  the  darkness, 
and  they  started  off  in  the  general  direction. 
Once  on  their  way  they  knew  that  if  they  kept 
straight  ahead  for  two  miles  they  would  reach  the 
chateau. 

"And  dinner,"  Alice  added.  "Oh,  dear,  I  was 
never  so  starved." 

"Well,  cheer  up,  this  little  walk  will  give  you 
an  added  appetite,"  Helen  teased. 

They  trudged  on  in  silence  for  awhile,  and  then 
Alice  said  suddenly:  "Listen!  I  hear  some- 
thing.   It's  an  automobile." 

They  stood  still  and  waited.  At  first  they  heard 
a  faint  thundering  noise  that  grew  louder  as  the 
machine  approached. 

"It's  coming  towards  us,"  Alice  said  dolefully; 
"what  a  beastly  shame,  I  was  hoping  for  a  lift." 


126  ALICE  BLYTHE 

"It's  more  than  one  car,  it's  a  lot  of  them.  Do 
listen!  Look,  here  they  come,  we'd  better  give 
them  the  road, ' '  Helen  advised. 

They  stepped  to  one  side  as  a  train  of  five 
ambulance  lorries  appeared  np  the  road.  Their 
headlights  were  on,  and  they  were  moving  very 
fast. 

'  *  More  wounded, ' '  Helen  said.  * '  I  didn  't  know 
they  were  expected,  did  you  ? " 

*■ '  No, ' '  Alice  answered.    * ■  Look ! ' ' 

One  of  the  machines  was  coming  dizzily  toward 
them,  and  they  saw  that  it  lurched  from  side  to 
side.  It  was  the  third  in  line,  and  as  they  watched, 
it  crashed  heavily  into  a  tree,  scrapping  the  car 
ahead. 

The  others  stopped  abruptly  and  the  girls  ran 
forward.  The  machine  was  badly  smashed,  and 
the  driver  was  thrown  to  the  side  of  the  road. 
The  second  car  had  stopped  half-way  up  the  bank 
a  little  farther  on.  Alice  saw  that  the  driver  had 
fallen  forward  over  the  wheel.  The  rest  of  the 
cars  stopped  in  their  tracks,  and  their  drivers  hur- 
ried to  the  wreck. 

"What's  up?"  Alice  inquired;  "we're  from  the 
Hospital.' ' 


A  SUDDEN  DECISION  127 

One  of  the  drivers  turned  to  her.  He  looked 
very  tired  and  dusty,  and  his  voice  was  weak. 

"Unexpected  push  up  ahead,"  he  explained; 
"we've  been  running  for  twenty-four  hours  from 
the  dressing  station  to  the  Front  Hospital  Now 
we're  clearing  that  out,  we've  another  trip  to 
make  to-night  back  here.  Can  we  leave  him  with 
you?"  He  pointed  to  the  limp  form  that  Helen 
was  already  bending  over.    Alice  nodded. 

"Tough  luck,  being  one  car  shy  just  now,"  he 
continued;  "we  haven't  any  too  many  as  it 
is." 

He  walked  wearily  back  to  his  machine,  and  the 
others  followed  his  example.  Alice  watched  them 
intently.  None  of  them  seemed  to  notice  that  the 
man  in  the  second  car  was  still  in  his  seat.  As 
they  started  off  again,  the  drivers  of  the  fourth 
and  fifth  machines  shouted  something,  when  the 
second  failed  to  fall  into  line,  but  neither  of  them 
stopped. 

Alice  ran  over  and  shook  the  man  at  the  wheeL 
He  was  not  hurt,  but  the  shock  of  the  other  car 
hitting  his  had  dazed  him. 

"Are  you  injured?"  she  demanded,  as  he  re- 
garded her  wonderingly. 


128  ALICE  BLYTHE 

He  was  very  young  and  he  looked  very  sleepy. 
"What  happened?"  he  asked. 

"Doesn't  matter,' '  Alice  replied  shortly, 
"you're  not  fit  to  go  on.  Get  out  and  go  over  and 
help  take  that  man  back  to  the  Hospital." 

The  boy  obeyed  mechanically.  Alice  climbed  in- 
to the  seat  he  had  just  left.  She  started  the  en- 
gine, released  the  brake  and  drove  a  little  way 
down  the  road.  Then  she  jumped  out  and  ran 
back  to  Helen. 

"There's  nothing  wrong  with  this  car,"  she 
said  hurriedly,  "and  I'm  going  to  drive  it.  Tell 
Michael  I'll  be  back  sometime  to-morrow,  will 
you?" 

Helen  was  busy  lifting  the  injured  man,  with 
the  help  of  the  other  driver,  but  she  stopped  long 
enough  to  look  at  Alice  for  a  brief  second,  then 
she  nodded. 

"All  right,  but  be  careful.  Easy,  lift  him 
gently,"  she  directed  as  she  turned  to  the  man. 

Alice  went  back  to  the  waiting  ambulance. 


CHAPTER  Xin 

A   CEY  IN    THE  DABK 

ATEAIN  of  ambulance  lorries,  returning 
empty  to  their  base,  driven  at  full  speed, 
and  it  was  several  minutes  before  Alice 
caught  sight  of  car  number  five.  She  had  had  to 
make  up  for  the  time  she  had  lost,  and  it  was  with 
a  sense  of  having  won  a  race  that  she  fell  into  line 
and  was  able  to  slacken  her  pace  to  suit  the  car 
ahead. 

She  did  not  have  time  to  analyze  the  sudden  im- 
pulse that  had  prompted  her  to  follow  with  the 
extra  ambulance.  It  was  enough  for  her  to  know 
there  was  something  going  on  up  at  the  Front,  and 
that  they  needed  all  the  help  they  could  get. 
When  she  discovered  that  the  driver  of  car  num- 
ber two  could  not  "carry  on"  any  further  she  had 
slipped  into  his  seat  with  characteristic  calm. 
Once  in  the  seat  the  necessity  of  keeping  her  head 
clear  and  her  hands  steady  occupied  all  her  time. 

Fear  was  something  that  Alice  knew  very  little 

129 


130  ALICE  BLYTHE 

about,  and  the  ride  ahead  held  no  terrors  for  her. 
She  did  not  have  any  idea  where  she  was  going, 
or  what  she  was  expected  to  do  when  she  got  there, 
but  she  did  know  that  wherever  and  whatever  it 
was,  the  car  she  was  driving  was  needed,  and  she 
centered  all  her  energy  on  getting  it  there. 

For  the  first  part  of  the  trip  the  roads  were 
good,  and  driving  was  comparatively  easy.  The 
lights  from  the  lamps  showed  the  road  for  a  few 
feet  ahead,  and  made  queer  ghost-like  shadows 
against  the  blackness  of  the  countryside.  Alice 
had  a  detached  sort  of  feeling  that  she  was  sitting 
still  and  the  rest  of  the  world  was  whirling  by  her 
on  either  side.  The  thunder  of  the  cars  ahead 
grew  monotonous  and  the  even  throb  of  her  own 
engine  seemed  to  be  a  distinctive  sound.  She 
kept  her  eyes  on  the  road  and  drove.  It  was  too 
dark  to  see  anything  of  the  country,  but  she  felt 
the  nearness  of  trees,  and  knew  that  she  was  going 
through  a  woods. 

A  little  farther  on,  the  car  ahead  slowed  down ; 
she  followed,  and  after  a  minute  her  lights  showed 
up  the  outline  of  a  bridge.  The  boards  trembled 
under  her  as  she  crossed.  The  road  beyond  was 
full  of  ruts,  and  it  was  harder  to  drive.    She 


A  CRY  IN  THE  DAEK  131 

watched  carefully,  but  it  is  not  easy  to  avoid 
bumps  when  you  are  traveling  at  such  a  rate. 
After  a  while  she  gave  it  up  and  tried  to  follow  in 
the  tracks  of  the  car  ahead,  it  lurched  and  swayed 
as  the  road  grew  worse.  At  last  lights  ahead 
flickered  in  the  darkness,  and  other  noises,  besides 
the  thunder  of  the  cars,  came  to  her. 

The  car  ahead  turned  to  the  right,  and  as  she 
followed,  her  car  stopped  bumping.  She  was  on 
a  smooth  road  again,  and  the  pace  of  all  the  train 
was  considerably  slackened. 

"Either  we're  going  through  a  village,  or  this 
it  IT, » » Alice  said  to  herself.    * '  I  hope  it 's  IT. » ' 

It  was  not  long  before  she  knew,  for  one  by  one 
the  cars  ahead  stopped  and  by  the  pale  light  of 
the  lamps  she  saw  that  they  were  in  front  of  a 
house  that  might  once  have  been  a  hotel.  She 
was  undecided  what  to  do,  but  she  backed  her 
car  up  as  the  others  had  done,  and  waited. 

Several  men  in  uniforms  were  hurrying  back 
and  forth  giving  orders,  and  every  few  minutes 
an  ambulance  from  somewhere  farther  on  would 
go  past,  driving  slowly.  She  was  just  going  to 
get  down  and  explain  to  some  one,  when  a  voice 
shouted :    ' '  Cars  one  and  two  for  the  Front ;  you 


132  ALICE  BLYTHE 

can  make  it  before  dawn  if  you  hustle,  and  you're 
needed.  Carry  on! — "  and  she  saw  the  first  of 
her  train  pull  out  and  lurch  into  the  road. 

For  a  half -minute  Alice  was  undecided  what  to 
do.  The  common-sense  plan  would  be  to  explain 
and  have  another  car  sent  in  her  place,  but  some- 
thing stronger  than  common-sense  urged  her  to 
go  herself.  Something  inside  her  brain  kept  say- 
ing, "I  can't  be  as  tired  as  they  are,"  and  before 
she  realized  that  she  had  made  up  her  mind,  she 
was  on  the  road  again,  just  behind  the  other  car. 

They  sped  along  over  the  smooth  streets  of  the 
town,  took  a  sharp  turn  to  their  right,  and  were 
soon  in  the  country  once  more. 

This  time  the  roads  were  worse  than  ever,  and 
it  was  impossible  to  go  very  fast.  Alice  watched 
the  car  ahead,  and  it  seemed  to  go  down  out  of 
sight  into  a  ditch  and  climb  up  the  other  side, 
every  few  minutes.  She  was  beginning  to  wish 
that  she  had  not  come,  when  suddenly  a  sentry 
loomed  up  in  the  glare  of  her  lamps,  and  she  heard 
him  shout:  "What  are  you  doing  with  your 
lights  on?" 

She  did  not  stop  to  explain,  but  hastened  to 
switch  off  her  lamps. 


A  CRY  IN  THE  DARK  133 

" Guess,  I'm  in  the  war  zone,"  she  said  aloud, 
and  for  a  minute  a  cold  creepy  feeling  took  pos- 
session of  her  backbone. 

It  took  her  some  time  to  grow  accustomed  to 
the  darkness.  There  was  nothing  to  guide  her 
now  but  the  noise  of  the  car  ahead,  and  she  soon 
realized  she  could  not  trust  to  that,  for  another 
noise  that  she  had  been  hearing  for  the  last  hour 
or  so,  and  had  thought  was  other  heavy  lorries, 
grew  louder  and  clearer,  and  she  realized  with  a 
start  that  she  was  actually  listening  to  the  guns. 
She  drove  on  for  a  long  time,  feeling  her  way,  and 
listening  hard  for  the  car  ahead.  When  there  was 
a  lull  in  the  cannonading  she  could  hear  the 
sound  of  the  engine,  and  she  did  her  best  to  fol- 
low it. 

For  a  short  distance  the  road  was  comparatively 
level,  and  Alice  thought  that  if  she  could  only 
reach  the  driver  of  the  car  ahead  she  could  ask  him 
to  tell  her  what  their  general  direction  was.  She 
slowed  down  to  listen  for  a  sound  from  his  car 
and  then  speeded  up  as  fast  as  she  dared,  to  try  to 
gain  on  him.  She  tried  hard  to  pierce  the  black- 
ness ahead,  but  she  could  distinguish  nothing. 
She  had  to  depend  on  her  hearing.    Just  as  she 


134  ALICE  BLYTHE 

thought  that  she  could  hear  the  other  car  a  little 
more  distinctly,  the  guns  began  again,  this  time 
in  real  earnest,  vivid  blotches  of  color  showed  to 
the  north  every  few  minutes,  and  the  noise  of  the 
bursting  shells  was  terrifying. 

Alice  had  only  one  thought,  to  reach  the  car 
ahead  at  all  costs,  and  in  the  stress  of  her  excite- 
ment she  forgot  the  road.  Suddenly,  and  without 
warning,  her  car  struck  a  rut  and  jumped  to  one 
side.  The  wheel  in  her  hand  refused  to  budge; 
then  the  back  of  the  car  swung  around  and  settled 
into  a  hole. 

Alice  sat  perfectly  still  for  a  moment  and 
tried  to  collect  her  wits.  She  was  shocked,  and 
her  knee  was  bruised,  but  she  was  not  hurt  other- 
wise. The  car  was  balancing  on  the  edge  of  a  shell 
hole,  and  she  decided  to  get  out  before  it  turned 
over.  She  had  completely  lost  her  bearings,  and 
in  the  inky  darkness  she  did  not  know  from  which 
direction  she  had  come.  She  sat  down  on  the 
ground  and  tried  to  think.  She  was  not  as  fright- 
ened as  she  was  angry.  She  did  not  understand 
that  what  had  happened  to  her  might  have  hap- 
pened to  any  one. 


A  CRY  IN  THE  DARK  135 

"I've  made  a  mess  of  things  and  spoiled  an 
ambulance, ' '  was  the  burden  of  her  thoughts,  and 
the  more  she  thought  the  angrier  she  became. 

She  buried  her  head  in  her  hands,  and  the  hot 
burning  tears  trickled  down  between  her  fingers. 

"Won't  help  any  to  blub  about  it,"  she  said 
angrily,  getting  up;  "maybe  the  car  isn't  really 
smashed  up,  and  I  might  be  able  to  back  out  of 
that  hole  if  I  could  only  see." 

She  felt  her  way  to  the  car  and  touched  the  hood, 
then  she  felt  along  the  side  and  around  to  the 
back.  The  hole  was  not  a  very  deep  one,  and  her 
hopes  were  beginning  to  rise,  when  a  sound  from 
somewhere  out  of  the  darkness  made  her  jump. 
She  was  surrounded  by  a  din  of  noise,  for  shells 
were  bursting  only  a  little  way  to  the  north,  but 
this  sound  was  different;  it  was  human.  She 
waited,  listening,  scarcely  daring  to  breathe. 

It  came  again,  a  sharp  cry  of  pain  unmistak- 
ably, and  in  sharp  contrast  to  the  thunder  of  the 
guns. 

Without  a  moment's  hesitation  she  plunged  into 
the  darkness  in  the  direction  from  which  it  had 
come. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

peter's  instructions  put  to  the  test 

THE  cry  had  not  come  from  any  great  dis- 
tance, and  Alice  had  not  stumbled  on  for 
very  far,  before  her  shoulder  struck 
against  something.  She  put  out  her  hand.  Her 
first  thought  was  that  another  ambulance  had  gone 
off  the  road,  but  to  her  surprise  and  amazement 
she  took  hold  of  something  that  felt  like  the  wing 
of  an  aeroplane. 

"Is  there  any  one  here?"  she  asked,  uncon- 
sciously lowering  her  voice. 

"Yes,  over  here.  Where  are  you?"  A  voice 
very  weak  from  pain  replied. 

Alice  groped  her  way  to  the  side  of  the  machine 
under  the  wing. 

"Right  here;  111  find  you  in  a  minute."  She 
felt  along  the  ground  and  finally  touched  some- 
thing that  felt  like  an  arm.  It  moved  painfully 
under  her  touch.    A  man  was  lying  at  her  feet. 

"What's  the  matter?    Do  you  know  what's 

137 


138  ALICE  BLYTHE 

happened  to  you  ? ' '  She  inquired  gently,  kneeling 
down  beside  him. 

"I  got  winged  right  under  the  shoulder.  I 
think,  but  I  made  my  landing —  Oh! — "  A 
sharp  intake  of  breath  made  Alice  pause. 

"Am  I  hurting  you  very  much?"  she  asked, 
"I  want  to  find  out  where  you're  hurt.  Is  it  this 
shoulder?  It's  so  beastly  dark  I  can't  see  what 
I'm  doing." 

"I  know,  it's  been  dark  for  ages,"  the  man's 
voice  replied  fretfully.  *  *  Who  are  you  anyway  ? ' ' 
he  demanded  suddenly,  and  Alice  felt  his  hand 
cover  the  pocket  of  his  coat  protectingly. 

"English  ambulance  driver,"  she  explained, 
"and  a  pretty  poor  one  at  that.  I  ran  off  the  road 
over  there  quite  a  while  ago.    Didn  't  you  hear  me?" 

*  *  Not  till  just  now.  The  guns  have  been  making 
such  an  infernal  racket,  and  my  shoulder's  been  a 
bit  jumpy,"  the  voice  trailed  off,  and  Alice  knew 
that  the  man  was  suffering  more  than  he  would 
admit. 

"Wonder  if  I  could  get  you  anything  from  the 
ambulance,"  she  said  slowly;  "perhaps  there's  a 
bottle  of  water  somewhere." 


PETER'S  INSTRUCTIONS  139 

"Got  some  of  that  in  my  own  machine,  bnt  I 
couldn't  get  to  it.  Think  you  could  find  it?" 
the  man  replied.  "I  am  uncommon  thirsty.  I 
smashed  my  torch  looking  for  it." 

Alice  left  him  and  felt  her  way  to  the  'plane. 

"It's  strapped  to  the  side  of  the  seat,"  the  man 
directed. 

She  found  the  flask  and  returned. 

1  *  There  you  are,  be  careful  don 't  spill  it. ' '  She 
lifted  his  head  gently  and  applied  the  mouth  of 
the  flask. 

A  sigh  rewarded  her. 

"What  time  is  it,  do  you  know!"  the  man  asked 
after  a  pause. 

"Almost  dawn,"  Alice  replied.  "As  soon  as  I 
can  see  things,  I  '11  get  you  over  to  the  ambulance 
and  try  to  make  you  comfortable,  we're  almost 
sure  to  be  picked  up  soon  by  a  returning  car  from 
the  Front. 

The  man's  head  had  dropped  back  into  her  lap, 
and  his  voice  grew  feverish  again. 

"All  very  well  for  you,  but  I  can't  go,"  he  said. 
"I've  got  to  be  back  at  headquarters  before  then. 
I've  made  that  observation  and  I  must  get  it  to 


140  ALICE  BLYTHE 

them.  This  delay's  a  nuisance.  Why  don't  we 
start!" 

'  *  What  division  are  you  in  ? "  Alice  asked. 

The  man  tried  to  collect  his  wits  at  the  ques- 
tion, and  gave  her  a  name  and  number,  which 
were  strangely  enough  the  name  and  number  of 
Peter's  Company. 

"I  see,"  she  replied,  "I  know  Lieutenant  St. 
John  and  Lieutenant  Hunt  of  that — "  then  she 
waited. 

"St.  John.  Good  old  Peter,  gone  West;  too 
bad."  The  man  murmured  confusedly.  "But 
why  don't  we  start?  I  must  get  this  news  back  to 
the  Colonel." 

Alice's  heart  felt  as  if  it  had  turnfd  over  and 
then  stopped,  as  she  waited.  "Peter  gone  West," 
she  said,  trying  to  understand,  "but,  of  course,  he 
doesn't  know,  he's  delirious,  and  I  mustn't — I 
can 't  believe  him. '  * 

"What  news  have  you  got  to  get  to  Head- 
quarters?" she  demanded,  trying  to  rouse  the 
man. 

• '  Big  formation  of  troops ;  I  saw  them.  Marked 
my  map  and  then — confound  it,  where 's  my  map? 
You've  taken  it!"    He  sat  up  excitedly. 


PETER'S  INSTRUCTIONS  141 

"No,  beg  your  pardon,  I  forgot  you  were  a  girl. 
What's  a  girl  doing  here?"  His  voice  was 
steadily  growing  weaker. 

"Oh,  never  mind  that,"  Alice  interrupted, 
"you're  too  sick  to  trouble."  She  put  her  hand 
gently  on  his  shoulder  to  push  him  back,  and  felt 
that  it  was  wet — a  sticky  wet.  She  knew  that  it 
was  blood.  "There  must  be  an  emergency  kit  in 
the  ambulance,"  she  said,  "I'm  going  to  get  it. 
I'll  be  right  back.    Don't  try  to  move." 

She  found  her  way  to  the  ambulance  and 
climbed  gingerly  inside.  She  could  not  see  any- 
thing beyond  the  vaguest  shapes,  and  the  machine 
might  turn  over  if  she  was  not  careful.  It  looked 
in  the  darkness  as  if  it  were  just  balancing  on  the 
edge  of  the  shell  hole.  Once  inside,  she  felt 
around  and  pulled  out  a  blanket,  and  under  the 
seat  in  front  she  found  a  bag  that  she  thought 
must  be  an  emergency  kit.  With  these  she 
stumbled  back  to  the  man.  She  slipped  the 
blanket  as  best  she  could  under  his  head  and 
shoulders,  and  then  started  to  unbutton  his  coat 
and  khaki  shirt.  He  winced  with  pain  at  first, 
but  helped  her  all  he  could. 

"If  you  can  stop  the  blood  I'll  be  better,"  he 


142  ALICE  BLYTHE 

said  hopefully.  "Know  anything  about  nurs- 
ing?" 

"No,"  Alice  replied,  "but  I've  got  a  bag  of  stuff 
here  and  we'll  do  something." 

The  wound  was  not  on  the  shoulder,  but  through 
the  upper  part  of  the  arm,  and  with  the  man 
directing,  Alice  tied  a  tourniquet  above  and  below 
the  spot.  Then  she  put  on  some  soft  bandage  that 
she  found,  gave  the  man  another  drink,  covered 
him  with  the  blanket  and  sat  down  beside  him  to 
think.  There  were  a  lot  of  things  in  the  kit  bag, 
but  it  was  too  dark  to  see  what  they  were. 

"If  I  only  knew  what  bottle  had  iodine  in  it,  I'd 
put  some  of  that  on  it, ' '  she  said  to  herself.  Then, 
as  if  she  had  a  sudden  inspiration,  she  exclaimed 
aloud.  "The  lights!  Of  course,  the  car  lights, 
what  an  idiot  I  was  not  to  think  of  them."  She 
ran  back  to  the  road  and  switched  them  on.  They 
looked  very  large  and  seemed  to  illuminate  all  the 
country.  Alice  was  frightened  by  their  glare; 
she  looked  hurriedly  in  the  bag,  found  a  bottle  and 
switched  the  lights  off  again. 

"What  was  that?"  the  man  demanded  when  she 
returned  to  him. 


PETER'S  INSTRUCTIONS  143 

She  explained.      i 

"I  was  stupid  not  to  think  of  it  before,"  she 
said. 

"Oh,  bother,  you  mustn't  do  it  again,"  the 
man  insisted,  "it's  dangerous;  we're  too  near  the 
guns,  and  they  might  start  shelling  us,  and  we 
can't  take  the  chance  on  account  of  my  plane — 
can't  you  understand!" 

"Isn't  your  plane  wrecked?"  Alice  demanded. 

"No,  my  tank's  hit,  but  I  could  make  it  on  my 
emergency  if  my  shoulder  would  only  stop."  He 
tried  to  sit  up,  but  she  pushed  him  back  firmly  and 
applied  the  iodine. 

"Now  listen  to  me,"  she  said,  when  she  had 
emptied  most  of  the  contents  of  the  bottle  over  his 
arm  in  the  hope  of  some  of  it  finding  the  wound : 
"you  lie  still  until  the  dawn  comes,  it  can't  be 
long.  And  don't  worry  about  the  map.  I  prom- 
ise you  it  will  be  taken  over  the  lines  and  delivered 
to  the  Colonel." 

"How  can  you  promise?"  the  man  said  fret- 
fully, but  his  head  sank  back  on  her  lap,  and  for 
a  long  time  neither  of  them  spoke. 

Alice  watched  the  sky  in  the  east  for  the  first 


144  ALICE  BLYTHE 

streak  of  light.  Never  had  a  night  seemed  so  in- 
terminably long,  but  at  last  the  black  of  the  sky 
gave  way  to  a  faint  gray,  and  the  country  began 
to  take  a  definite  shape.  She  saw  the  outline 
of  the  plane  and  her  heart  began  to  beat  excitedly. 
The  man  beside  her  was  lying  very  still.  It  was 
not  light  enough  for  her  to  distinguish  any  of  his 
features,  but  he  seemed  to  her  more  like  a  human 
being  and  less  of  a  voice  than  he  had  seemed  in 
the  dark,  and  the  fact  gave  her  courage.  She 
leaned  over  him  and  roused  him  gently. 

"The  light's  coming, "  she  explained,  pointing 
to  the  east.    * '  Are  you  any  better  ? ' ' 

He  tried  to  nod.  He  was  very  weak  and  his  face 
showed  ashy  white  against  the  dark  blanket. 

He  looked  at  Alice  in  amazement,  and  she 
laughed  nervously. 

"Now  don't  start  worrying  and  wondering  who 
I  am,"  she  said.  "I  haven't  time  to  explain,  but 
do  try  to  understand  what  I  am  going  to  say. 

"First  of  all,  I'm  Peter  St.  John's  cousin,  and 
next,  I  know  how  to  drive  an  aeroplane.  If  you 
have  a  message  that  is  really  important,  I'll  take 
it.  Just  give  me  your  map  and  tell  me  the  di- 
rection by  the  compass.    I'll  drag  you  over  to  the 


PETER'S  INSTRUCTIONS  145 

road,  and  one  of  the  other  ambulances  will  pick 
you  up." 

The  man  looked  at  her  in  unbelieving  surprise. 

"Am  I  balmy,  or  are  you  really  talking  sense?" 
he  said  a  little  crossly. 

"I'm  talking  sense,"  Alice  replied.  "You 
can't  take  the  message,  you're  too  weak;  so  why 
not  let  me  try?  I  know  you  don't  believe  I  can, 
but  it's  the  only  chance." 

"No,  of  course,  I  don't  believe  you  can,"  the 
man  replied,  and  added  fretfully,  "I  suppose  I'll 
wake  up  in  a  minute." 

"Well,  I  wouldn't  wait  for  that  if  I  were  you," 
Alice  advised.  "It's  getting  lighter  every  second 
and  I'd  like  to  start  if  I'm  going." 

The  man  did  not  reply,  but  she  saw  baffled  con- 
sent in  his  eyes.    She  jumped  up  with  alacrity. 

"Come  along  now,  I'll  get  you  over  to  the  am- 
bulance." She  lifted  him  as  gently  as  she  could 
under  his  arms,  and  dragged,  and  pulled  until  he 
was  just  on  the  edge  of  the  road.  With  a  show 
of  business-like  haste,  which  she  was  far  from 
feeling,  she  took  a  stretcher  from  the  ambulance, 
covered  it  with  blankets,  and  made  him  as  com- 
fortable as  possible. 


146  ALICE  BLYTHE 

"Now  tell  me  what  to  do,"  she  said. 

Without  a  word  the  man  took  a  wallet  from  his 
pocket  and  handed  it  to  her.  Then  in  a  tone  as 
gruff  as  it  was  possible  for  him  to  use  he  gave 
her  some  directions.  Alice  repeated  them  after 
him  clearly,  slipped  the  wallet  in  the  pocket  of  the 
sweater  she  had  on,  and  walked  back  to  the  'plana 
On  the  way  she  picked  up  the  gauntlets  and  cap 
that  she  found  on  the  ground,  and  put  them  on. 

"Now,  Peter,  what  do  I  do  next?"  she  whispered 
to  herself. 

Apparently  no  one  answered  her  question,  but 
Peter's  instructions  came  back  to  her  mind,  clear 
and  distinct.  She  started  the  engine,  and  climbed 
into  the  seat  with  a  forced  bravado.  She  knew 
that  the  man  by  the  roadside  did  not  believe  in 
her,  and  the  knowledge  made  her  angry.  She 
remembered  what  he  had  said  about  the  tank  being 
shot,  and  switched  to  the  emergency. 

"Peter,  Peter,  don't  let  me  fall  down  now!" 
she  begged.  Again  Peter  seemed  to  come  to  her 
aid.  Her  hands  acted  mechanically  as  if  under  his 
instructions. 

There  was  a  whirring  noise,  a  sudden  jerky 
start,  and  then  the  'plane  bumped  over  the  ground, 


PETER'S  INSTRUCTIONS  147 

rose  gently,  skimmed  the  ground  for  a  little  way, 
and  then  soared  up  and  up  towards  a  bank  of  gray 
clouds  that  hung  low  in  the  east. 


CHAPTER  XV 

A   HINT   OF   DISASTEB 

WHEN  Alice  circled  above  the  field  of 
the  Flying  Corps  Headquarters,  a  lit- 
tle later,  the  place  was  deserted,  ex- 
cept for  the  men  on  guard.  One  of  them  noticed 
her  'plane  and  called  to  a  comrade,  and  together 
they  ran  out  to  meet  it. 

Alice  wanted  to  make  a  landing  worthy  of 
Peter's  instructions,  so  she  tried  to  volplane 
gently  down,  but  she  miscalculated  her  distance 
with  the  result  that  her  machine  ran  away  with 
her  and  she  struck  the  ground  before  she  intended 
to.  Before  she  could  stop  it  the  *plane  crashed 
into  a  fence  post  and  seemed  literally  to  crumple 
up. 

The  men  hurried  over  to  the  wreck,  expecting 
to  find  the  regular  pilot  at  the  wheel.  Their  sur- 
prise, when  they  discovered  Alice,  was  so  great 
that  it  seemed  to  rob  them  of  the  power  to  act. 
They   stood   about   looking   dumbfounded   long 

149 


150  ALICE  BLYTHE 

enough  for  Alice  to  recover  from  the  shock  and 
realize  the  sharp  pain  that  was  making  her  ankle 
throb. 

"Well,  help  me,  one  of  you,"  she  said  when  she 
found  her  voice,  and  the  men  sprang  to  her.  One 
of  them  helped  her  climb  out.  She  tried  to  stand ; 
a  cry  of  pain  escaped  her,  and  she  sank  to  the 
ground. 

"Blime  me,  if  it  ain't  a  girl,"  one  of  the  men 
exclaimed.  "Here,  mate,  help  me  pick  her  up. 
Wonder  how  she  came  back  in  Lieutenant  Grey's 
machine." 

Alice  was  not  unconscious,  and  she  smiled  in 
spite  of  her  pain.  "I  flew  back,  didn't  you  see 
me? "  she  asked,  trying  to  laugh.  "Help  me  up, 
will  you,  I've  an  idea  my  ankle  is  broken." 

The  men  lifted  her  clumsily,  and  between  them 
she  tried  to  hobble  along. 

"No  use,"  she  had  to  admit  after  a  few  steps, 
"you'll  have  to  carry  me." 

"Where  to,  Miss?"  one  of  the  guards  inquired, 
rubbing  his  eyes.  "I  sy  'ave  I  gone  balmy  in  my 
crumpet?"  he  inquired  seriously. 

"To  the  Colonel,  wherever  he  is,"  Alice  di- 
rected, "I've  got  news  for  him,  and  there's  no  time 


'"Ml***  — 

''She  tried  to  stand;  a  cry  of  pain  escaped  her" 

Page  150 
151 


A  HINT  OF  DISASTER  153 

to  lose.  Ill  tell  you  how  I  got  your  'plane  after- 
wards," she  promised  as  they  lifted  her  between 
them. 

Fortunately  at  that  moment  Lieutenant  Hunt, 
attracted  by  the  noise,  came  out  of  his  quarters 
and  hurried  towards  them.  At  sight  of  the  group 
he  stopped  and  looked  even  more  surprised  than 
the  guards  had. 

*  ■  Alice  Blythe ! ' '  he  exclaimed.  *  *  What  are  you 
doing  here  ? ' ' 

"Good  morning,  Stephen,"  Alice  replied,  and 
explained  briefly  the  events  of  the  night  before. 

Lieutenant  Hunt  did  not  let  her  quite  finish. 
He  took  the  wallet  she  handed  him  and  ran  to  the 
Colonel's  quarters,  calling  to  the  men  to  follow. 

A  few  minutes  later  she  was  explaining  all  over 
again  to  another  man  with  iron-gray  hair,  who  was 
poring  over  the  map  before  him  while  she  talked. 
He  was  so  busy,  in  fact,  that  he  did  not  notice  that 
Alice  was  swaying  dizzily,  and  she  would  have 
fallen  if  Lieutenant  Hunt  had  not  caught  her. 

"What'^  the  matter?  Oh,  poor  child,  what  a 
brute  I  am!"  Alice  heard  him  say,  and  then  for 
just  a  very  short  time  everything  about  her  was 
blotted  out,  and  her  head  swam. 


154  ALICE  BLYTHE 

" She's  fainted,  sir,"  was  the  next  thing  she 
heard,  and  she  knew  Stephen  was  saying  it. 

"No,  I  have  not,"  she  denied  stoutly,  and  tried 
hard  to  open  her  eyes,  "but  I've  hurt  my  ankle, 
and  I'm  hungry — awfully  hungry." 

"Poor  old  girl,  I  should  think  you  would 
be,"  Stephen  replied.  "Here,  lie  down  for  a 
while  in  the  Colonel's  bunk,  and  I'll  find  the 
M.D." 

Alice  was  glad  enough  to  obey,  her  ankle  was 
sending  shooting  pains  up  her  leg,  and  her  head 
was  beginning  to  swim  again. 

She  heard  the  Colonel  giving  orders,  and  the 
men  running  back  and  forth.  Evidently  the  map 
in  the  wallet  had  really  been  important. 

She  closed  her  eyes  and  did  not  bother  to  think 
any  more  until  a  grinning  Tommy  offered  her  a 
tin  cup  filled  with  something  that  smelled  deli- 
riously like  broth.  She  sipped  it  slowly  and  her 
head  cleared. 

"Thanks  a  lot,  that  was  awfully  good,"  she 
said.    * '  May  I  have  some  more  ? ' ' 

"Can  she  'ave  more,  'arken  to  her,"  the  Tommy 
replied  to  an  imaginary  somebody.  "She  can 
'ave  h'all  of  h'it  she  wants,"  he  went  on.    He 


A  HINT  OF  DISASTEK  155 

walked  to  the  door.  "Hi,  Charlie,  more  chow  for 
the  lidy ! "  he  called. 

Alice  drank  four  cups  of  the  soup  and  felt  better. 

She  was  just  finishing  the  last  one  when  the 
Colonel  returned  with  the  doctor. 

He  examined  the  ankle  and  pronounced  it  a 
bad  sprain. 

"But  I  can't  for  the  life  of  me  see  how  you  did 
it,"  he  said  as  he  strapped  it  with  bands  of  ad- 
hesive plaster. 

"I  don't  either,"  Alice  confessed,  "but  I've 
given  up  wondering.  I'm  a  bit  confused  as  to 
what  happened  after  I  struck  the  ground,  but  I  got 
here  in  time,  didn't  I,  Colonel?"  she  asked. 

"You  surely  did,  my  dear,"  the  Colonel  replied; 
"we  had  given  up  Grey  as  lost." 

"I  hope  he's  all  right,"  Alice  said,  "I  hated 
leaving  him,  but  he  was  so  upset  about  getting  that 
map  here,  that  I  thought  I'd  better  chance  it,  and 
now  that  I've  done  it,  Colonel,  may  I  ask  one  ques- 
tion?" 

The  Colonel  nodded. 

"Well,"  Alice  began,  "I've  a  cousin,  Peter  St. 
John,  in  this  division,  and  I'd  like  most  awfully 
to  see  him.    Is  he  here  ? ' ' 


156  ALICE  BLYTHE 

The  Colonel  glanced  sharply  at  the  Doctor  for 
a  brief  second,  then  he  said  quietly:  "I'm 
awfully  sorry,  Miss  Blythe,  but  your  cousin  is  back 
of  the  lines  resting.  He  had  a  cold,  I  believe, 
wasn  't  it,  Doctor  V 

The  Doctor  nodded. 

"Nothing  to  be  alarmed  about,  I  just  sent  him 
back  because  I  thought  he  needed  the  rest,"  he 
explained.  "He  will  never  forgive  me  when  he 
hears  he's  missed  you,"  he  added. 

Alice  smiled. 

"Thanks,"  she  said.  "Lieutenant  Grey  kept 
talking  about  some  one's  *  going  West,'  last  night, 
and  well,  of  course,  I  knew  it  couldn't  be  Peter, 
for  I  knew  I'd  have  heard  if  anything  had  hap- 
pened to  him.  But  well,  you  understand,  I  could- 
n't quite  get  it  out  of  my  head." 

"Of  course  not,  to  be  sure,"  the  Colonel  said 
hastily.  "Poor  Grey  must  have  meant  some  one 
else,  because  St.  John's  all  right,  you  see,  oh,  quite 
all  right,  except  for  this  slight  cold.  Too  bad  he 
isn't  here." 

"Oh,  if  he's  really  all  right,"  Alice  laughed, 
"I  don't  mind  so  very  much.  He'd  rag  me  un- 
mercifully about  that  landing  I  made,  and  now 


A  HINT  OF  DISASTER  157 

you  see  he  doesn't  have  to  know.  Steve  won't 
give  me  away,  I'm  certain,  and  yon  won't,  will 
you?"  She  looked  up  at  the  two  men  beside  her, 
and  laughed. 

"No  indeed,  certainly  not,"  the  Colonel  replied. 
"I— I'll  tell  him  you  made  no  end  of  a  fine  land- 
ing, next  time  I  see  him,  'pon  my  soul,  I  will,"  he 
added  and  turned  away  suddenly. 

The  Doctor  stood  up. 

"Try  to  rest  a  little,  Miss  Blythe,  won't  you!" 
he  said.  "That  ankle  may  give  you  a  little 
trouble,  but  I'll  give  you  something  if  the  pain 
gets  very  bad. " 

"Oh,  please  don't  worry  about  me,"  Alice 
laughed.  "I  expect  it's  no  end  of  a  nuisance 
having  me  here,  and  I'm  so  sorry.  Isn't  there 
some  way  of  getting  me  to  a  railway  station  and 
back  to  the  Hospital?  I  hate  bothering  you  like 
this." 

"Nonsense,  my  dear  child,  don't  be  absurd," 
the  Colonel  protested.  "You're  not  a  bother  at 
all,  you  mustn't  think  so  an  instant, — can't  have 
it,  you  know — think  what  you've  done."  And  as 
Alice  tried  to  speak,  he  went  on.  "You  must 
stay  quiet  as  the  Doctor  says.    My  quarters  are 


158  ALICE  BLYTHE 

entirely  at  your  disposal.  I'll  give  myself  the 
pleasure  of  having  tea  with  you  this  afternoon. 
Now,  now,  not  a  word.  If  you  want  anything, 
my  orderly  will  see  that  you  get  it.  I  hope  I'll 
have  some  news  for  you  when  I  return,"  he  fin- 
ished. 

Alice  was  a  little  embarrassed  by  so  much  at- 
tention, but  she  thanked  him  and  nodded  to  the 
Doctor  as  they  left  her.  She  was  very  tired  and 
very  drowsy,  and  it  was  not  long  before  she  was 
fast  asleep. 

She  did  not  wake  up  until  late  in  the  afternoon. 
The  Colonel's  orderly  was  tiptoeing  around  get- 
ting ready  for  tea. 

"Hope  I  didn't  wake  you,  Miss,"  he  said  apolo- 
getically. 

"No,  indeed,"  Alice  assured  him,  "it's  high 
time  I  was  awake,  and  I'm  dying  for  tea." 

"I'll  tell  the  Colonel,  Miss,"  the  orderly  said; 
"he  told  me  to  let  him  know  as  soon  as  you  were 
awake." 

A  few  minutes  later,  Alice  and  the  Colonel  were 
having  the  merriest  time  over  the  rather  scanty 
meal.  Alice  told  of  the  circumstances  that  led  up 
to  the  adventure  of  the  night  before,  and  was 


A  HINT  OF  DISASTER  159 

doing  her  best  to  make  her  host  laugh.  She 
was  just  recalling  the  episode  of  the  station  master 
and  the  plate  of  berries,  when  the  orderly  returned 
and  announced,  "Captain  Blythe's  compliments, 
sir,  and  may  he  have  a  word  with  you!" 

The  Colonel  got  up  instantly  and  went  outside. 

Alice  waited  nervously.  She  knew,  or  thought 
she  knew,  exactly  what  her  brother  would  say. 
After  a  short  wait  the  Colonel  returned  with  him. 

"Your  brother,  my  dear,"  he  said. 

"Hello,  Gibbie!"  Alice  tried  not  to  sound  ex- 
cited, but  she  was  very  close  to  tears. 

Captain  Blythe  came  over  to  her  and  took  her 
in  his  arms. 

"Cricket,  Cricket!"  he  said,  kissing  her,  "what 
made  you  do  it?"    He  was  almost  sobbing. 

"Why  Gibbie,  dear,"  Alice  asked  surprised, 
"it  wasn't  as  bad  as  all  that,  and  somebody  had 
to  bring  the  message,  you  know." 

"Yes,  I  know,"  her  brother  said  brokenly,  "and 
of  course,  you  never  stopped  to  be  afraid." 

He  sat  down  on  the  camp  chair  that  the  Colonel 
pushed  toward  him,  and  the  talk  turned  to  lighter 
subjects,  but  the  Captain  kept  his  eyes  on  his 
sister,  and  their  expression  was  one  of  respect. 


160  ALICE  BLYTHE 

At  last  Alice  said:  "When  do  I  go  back  to  the 
Hospital !" 

Gilbert  laughed.  "You  don't  go,  my  dear,"  he 
said,  "you  go  back  to  England  at  once." 

His  voice  was  firm.  Alice  pleaded  in  vain ;  noth- 
ing could  change  his  determination,  and  a  little 
later  she  found  herself  in  one  of  the  service  cars 
headed  north  instead  of  south. 

As  the  Captain  was  shaking  hands  with  the 
Colonel,  she  overheard  the  latter  say,  "Don't  tell 
her  until  you  have  to,  my  boy.'* 

She  questioned  Gilbert,  but  he  answered  her 
evasively,  and  after  a  little  she  gave  up  trying  to 
find  out  what  the  Colonel  had  meant. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

THE  EETURN    TO   LITTLE   PETSTONE 

CAPTAIN  BLYTHE  was  determined  that 
Alice  would  have  no  time  to  ask  him  ques- 
tions on  the  ride  to  the  station.  He  kept 
up  a  lively  chatter  about  nothing  in  particular  all 
the  way.  Alice  felt  that  he  was  forcing  himself  to 
be  lively  but  she  thought  that  he  was  trying  to 
make  her  forget  the  pain  in  her  ankle,  and  she  did 
her  best  to  help  him. 

"I  wish  I  hadn't  been  so  clumsy  about  that  land- 
ing, ' '  she  said  ruefully,  when  they  had  taken  their 
places  in  the  train  for  Calais. 

"If  Peter  ever  finds  out,  he'll  rag  me  awfully, 
and  I  really  can't  blame  him,  it  was  a  stupid  thing 
to  do." 

"Hum,"  Captain  Blythe  showed  by  his  expres- 
sion that  he  did  not  agree  with  her. 

"You'd  better  be  thankful  that  you  got  down  at 
all,"  he  said  with  spirit. 

161 


162  ALICE  BLYTHE 

"Oh,  that's  one  thing  you're  sure  to  do  in  an 
aeroplane,"  Alice  laughed.  "You're  just  natu- 
rally bound  to  come  down." 

The  Captain  looked  at  her  for  a  moment  in  won- 
dering silence,  then  he  asked  suddenly. 

*  *  Cricket,  when  did  you  learn  to  drive  a  'plane  1 ' ' 

Alice  hesitated  before  she  answered. 

"Well,  you  see,  Gibbie,"  she  said,  "it's  a  sort 
of  a  secret  between  Peter  and  me,  and  he  might  not 
like  me  to  tell,  you  and  Dad  are  so  terribly  scared 
to  have  me  do  anything,  and  if  I  gave  away  this 
secret  you'd  always  expect  me  to  tell  you  all  the 
others,  and  you  see  I  can't  promise  to  do  that. 
I  give  you  fair  warning,  there  will  be  others  to  tell 
too,  for  now  that  I've  really  had  a  taste  of  adven- 
ture I  am  not  going  to  sit  at  home,  or  at  Little  Pet- 
stone  either,  and  just  do  nothing,  I'm  going  to  do 
any  number  of  thrilling  things  all  the  rest  of  my 
life." 

"For  instance?"  Gilbert  inquired,  smiling  at  his 
sister's  seriousness. 

"Oh,  I  don't  know  just  yet,"  Alice  replied,  "but 
perhaps  I'll  have  a  'plane  of  my  own  or  perhaps 
I  '11  take  up  driving. ' ' 

"Oh,  I'd  think  up  something  better  than  that," 


KETURN  TO  LITTLE  PETSTONE     163 

Gilbert  teased,  "why  not  hunt  big  game  in  Africa, 
or  go  North  and  harpoon  whales!" 

"That's  all  very  well  for  you  to  laugh,"  Alice 
replied,  "but  I  tell  you  I  mean  every  word  I  say, 
and  Peter  will  back  me  up,  see  if  he  doesn't." 

"I  say,"  she  added  after  a  moment's  silence,  "it 
was  rather  tough  luck  my  missing  Peter,  wasn't  it? 
I'm  rather  cut  up  about  it.  That  man  last  night 
kept  saying  such  awful  things  about  *  going  West, 
and  poor  chap. '  Of  course  they  were  not  true,  for 
Colonel  told  me  Peter  was  back  in  rest  billets,  but 
somehow  I  still  have  that  queer  depressed  feeling 
I  can't  exactly  explain.    You  don't  suppose — " 

"Hello,  here  we  are."  Gilbert  got  up  and 
walked  to  the  corridor  and  looked  out  of  the  win- 
dow. "We're  pulling  in,  better  get  your  wraps 
together,"  he  said,  and  for  the  moment  Alice  for- 
got Peter. 

But  evil  tidings  travel  fast,  and  Alice  could  not 
long  be  kept  in  doubt.  By  special  arrangement 
Captain  Blythe  saw  her  safely  started  for  England 
that  night,  and  her  father  met  her  at  Dover. 

She  was  tired  from  her  trip,  and  the  excite- 
ment of  reaching  home,  and  the  retelling  of  her 
adventures  kept  her  mind  occupied,  but  when  two 


164  ALICE  BLYTHE 

days  later  she  returned  to  Little  Petstone,  one 
look  at  her  annts '  faces  brought  back  all  the  vague 
misgivings  she  had  had. 

"Auntie,  what  is  it?"  she  demanded,  before  she 
had  taken  off  her  hat. 

Her  father  had  brought  her  down  by  car,  and 
with  Andrew's  help  had  carried  her  to  the  sofa 
in  the  Long  Room. 

Aunt  Seraphina,  who  was  busy  trying  to  make 
her  comfortable,  caught  Dr.  Blythe's  warning  look 
in  time,  but  Aunt  Matilda's  hand  trembled  in 
Alice 's  grasp,  and  she  replied  brokenly :  * '  Oh,  my 
dear,  there's  no  use  trying  to  keep  it  from  you, 
I  can't  do  it.  Peter's — "  she  could  get  no  fur- 
ther. 

" There,  there,  Matilda,"  the  Doctor  comforted, 
"you  mustn't  give  up  hoping,  you  know."  He 
turned  to  Alice.  * '  We  've  had  bad  news,  Cricket, ' ' 
he  said  gently,  "and  we  wanted  to  wait  until  you 
were  stronger  to  tell  you  about  it.  Peter  has  been 
wounded  and  missing." 

Alice  did  not  reply  for  several  minutes,  then  she 
said  slowly:  "I  see.  That's  what  the  Colonel 
meant  when  he  told  Gib.  to  keep  it  from  me  as  long 
as  possible,  and  that's  why  he  acted  so  queerly 


RETURN  TO  LITTLE  PETSTONE     165 

and  flustered  when  I  asked  about  Peter,  and  oh, 
Daddy,  it  can't  be  true — not  Peter!  Lieutenant 
Grey  said  he  had  'gone  West,'  but  that  means — 
oh,  I  won't  believe  it — I  won't." 

All  her  courage  gave  way  and  she  sobbed  as  if 
her  heart  would  break. 

"Wounded  and  missing  doesn't  always  mean 
dead,  dear  child, ' '  her  father  tried  to  comfort  her. 
"It  may  mean  that  Peter's  just  a  prisoner — we 
don't  know  anything  definite  yet,  and  you  mustn't 
give  way  like  that, — there's  hope  ahead.  Come 
now,  stop." 

Alice  did  her  best  to  suppress  her  sobs,  but  it 
was  hard  work.  She  understood  too  well  the 
meaning  of  the  message  "wounded  and  missing," 
to  put  much  faith  in  her  father's  hopes. 

"Tell  me  all  you  know,"  she  said  a  little  later 
when  she  had  dried  her  eyes. 

"Nothing  but  the  bare  facts,  Cricket,"  her 
father  replied.  "Peter  went  up  the  morning  of 
the  eighth — the  day  you  were  at  Fleurette — " 
Alice  shuddered,  "and  one  of  the  observers  saw 
his  'plane  drop  behind  the  German  lines — that's 
all.  Of  course,  Gibbie  will  do  his  best  to  find  out 
anything  more,  and  let  us  know." 


166  ALICE  BLYTHE 

"Then  no  one  actually  saw  him  killed?"  Alice 
eagerly  asked. 

"No,  his  'plane  was  hit  by  one  of  the  enemy 
anti-aircraft  guns  and  crashed  to  the  ground, 
but  they  don't  know  positively  that  he  was  hurt." 

Alice  nodded. 

"If  there's  a  chance  we  must  try  to  hope,"  she 
said  bravely.  "Perhaps  we'll  hear  something 
soon." 

*  *  That 's  right, ' '  her  father  agreed,  * '  I  can 't  help 
but  feel  he's  alive." 

But  days  passed  and  no  word  came.  Dr.  Blythe 
went  back  to  London,  and  Mrs.  Blythe  came  down 
for  a  day.  Alice's  ankle  grew  better,  but  she 
could  not  walk  on  it,  and  the  time  dragged  by  in 
endless  waiting. 

The  aunts  did  their  best  to  smile,  but  their  ter- 
rible anxiety  showed  only  too  plainly  in  their  eyes. 
They  made  much  of  Alice  as  an  invalid,  and  by 
waiting  on  her  and  inventing  new  wants  every  day 
they  kept  occupied  and  fought  against  admitting 
their  worst  fears  for  Peter. 

To  Alice  the  inaction  was  terrible.  She  was  not 
old  enough  to  accept  the  inevitable  without  pro- 
test ;  she  wanted  to  be  up  and  about,  doing  some- 


EETURN  TO  LITTLE  PETSTONE     167 

thing  or  anything  to  make  her  forget:*  Lieuten- 
ant Grey's  words  rang  in  her  ears  day  and  night, 
"Poor  old  chap,  he's  gone  West,"  and  although 
she  tried  to  keep  up  for  the  aunts'  sake,  she  found 
it  hard  to  convince  herself  that  there  was  even  a 
slight  hope. 

She  had  been  back  only  a  week,  when  a  letter 
from  Michael  came  to  her.  She  was  sitting  out 
on  the  terrace  in  the  sunshine  when  Aunt  Sera- 
phina  handed  it  to  her.  She  opened  it  eagerly  to 
find  that  it  contained  another  envelope  addressed 
in  Peter's  handwriting. 

Michael  had  written  across,  the  back  of  it: 
"This  came  the  day  you  left.  I've  just  heard  the 
news.  I'm  sorry,  Cricket,  awfully  sorry — better 
not  read  this  just  yet." 

But  Alice  disregarded  his  advice  and  opened  the 
letter.  Her  hand  trembled  a  little  as  she  read  the 
hurried,  unheaded  scrawl. 

"Just  time  for  a  line  to-night,  as  I  expect  to  go  up 
bright  and  early  in  the  morning.  There's  something 
going  on  over  in  Mr.  Fritz's  back  yard  that  we  want  to 
find  out  about,  and  I'm  elected.  The  only  trouble  is, 
this  particular  backyard  is  so  far  away  that,  although  I 
may  get  there,  there's  a  very  good  chance  that  I  may  not 
get  back,  so  this  is  sort  of  a  'last  line  before  the  battle* 
letter. 


168  ALICE  BLYTHE 

"Do  you  know,  Alice,  I've  been  thinking  about  you  all 
day,  and  well,  if  I  might  have  one  wish  to-night  it 
would  be  to  see  you  for  a  little  while — there,  does  that 
sound  awfully  rubbishy  to  you?  I  suppose  it  does;  or 
perhaps  now  that  you're  out  here  too,  you've  gotten 
to  look  at  things  differently,  same  as  I  have.  I  never 
felt  sentimental  before,  so  I  can't  be  sure,  but  I  think 
that's  what's  the  matter  with  me.  Anyway  I'm  a  whole 
lot  changed,  and  as  I  said  before  I  wish  I  could  be  with 
you.  I  have  a  notion  I'd  like  to  see  the  way  your  hair 
grows  over  your  left  ear.  Considering  the  opportuni- 
ties I've  had  to  observe  it  in  the  past  without  taking 
advantage  of  them,  shows  that  I  am  either  coming  down 
with  a  fever  or  just  plain  balmy — I'll  leave  you  to 
judge  which.  Wish  me  luck,  I'm  trusting  to  the  blue 
forget-me-not  to  see  me  through. 

"Yours, 

"Peter. 

P.  S.  "Alf.  Gubber  has  been  taken  prisoner — tough 
luck,  isn't  it.    Hunt  sends  his  best  regards. 

Alice  let  the  letter  drop  to  her  lap  and  looked 
out  over  the  garden.  Her  eyes  were  blinded  by 
hot  tears.  Peter  had  never  written  her  a  letter 
like  that  before,  and  she  had  never  wanted  him 
to,  at  least  not  until  lately.  She  wondered  if  it 
were  true  that  going  "out  there"  did  change  peo- 
ple. She  heard  Aunt  Seraphina  in  the  Long 
Eoom,  and  hastily  hid  the  letter,  and  explained 
that  it  was  just  a  note  from  Michael. 


BETUKN  TO  LITTLE  PETSTONE     169 

"He  says  that  Alf  Gubber  has  been  taken 
prisoner,' '  she  said.  "I  wonder  if  his  family 
know  it." 

"I'll  send  Andrew  down  to  see,"  Aunt  Sera- 
phina  replied.  "His  poor  mother  will  be  so  up- 
set,  I'd  go  myself  only — " 

"No,  you  stay  here,  dear,  it's  too  warm  for  you 
to  venture  so  far,  and  it  would  only  distress  you," 
Alice  interrupted,  "I'll  go." 

"But,  my  dear,  your  ankle." 

"Oh,  bother  my  ankle!"  Alice  tried  to  laugh; 
"it's  really  much  better,  and  Andrew  can  lift  me 
into  the  car  and  go  with  me.  I'll  only  drive  at  a 
snail's  pace,  I  promise,  and  I  really  think  it  would 
do  me  good." 

Aunt  Seraphina  was  never  proof  against  Alice's 
coaxing,  and  she  had  to  admit  that  it  was  tiresome 
to  have  to  stay  so  long  in  the  house.  So  after 
luncheon  Andrew  helped  Alice  hop  out  to  the  barn, 
and  took  his  place  beside  her  in  the  car. 

"It's  not  hard  to  drive  if  you  have  one  good 
foot  and  two  good  hands,"  Alice  said  as  they 
started,  "so  you  needn't  be  worried,  Andrew,  I 
won 't  upset  you. ' ' 

"That's  as  may  be,"  Andrew  replied  compos- 


170  ALICE  BLYTHE 

edly,  "but  I  maun  say,  lassie,  I've  mair  faith  in 
you  wi'  ane  foot  than  wi'  many  that  has  twa." 

Alice  could  not  help  being  pleased  at  so  flatter- 
ing a  compliment.  She  laughed  merrily,  and  after 
they  had  gone  a  little  way  something  of  the  old 
color  came  back  to  her  cheeks. 

Mrs.  Gubber  was  at  home  in  her  little  cottage 
when  they  reached  the  village.  Alice  hobbled  into 
the  tiny  best  parlor,  and  after  a  little  she  in- 
duced her  hostess  to  sit  down  beside  her  on  the 
sofa. 

"What  have  you  heard  from  Alf?"  she  in- 
quired after  they  had  exchanged  greetings. 

Mrs.  Gubber 's  face  fell. 

"He's  been  taken  a  prisoner,  Miss,"  she  replied; 
"we  had  a  wire  from  the  War  Office  last  week  tell- 
ing us  so." 

"I  knew  it,"  Alice  explained,  "but  I  thought 
perhaps  you  hadn't  heard.    I'm  so  sorry." 

"Mr.  Gubber  says  as  how  we  ought  to  be  thank- 
ful he's  livin',"  Mrs.  Gubber  went  on  sadly,  "but 
oh,  Miss,  when  you  think  of  the  way  those  Ger- 
mans treat  their  prisoners,  I  can't  help  but  be 
downhearted. ' ' 

"Of  course,  you  can't,"  Alice  comforted,  "but 


RETURN  TO  LITTLE  PETSTONE  171 
just  the  same,  it  is  good  to  know  he's  alive,  and 
I've  an  idea  that  Alf  can  look  after  himself,"  she 
added. 

Mrs.  Gubber  smiled.  "Oh,  Alf's  no  coward, 
Miss,  if  I  do  say  it,  he  always  was  a  great  one  to 
hold  his  own.  But  little  difference  it  makes,  I 
guess,  if  he's  in  one  of  those  prison  camps, 
whether  he's  brave  or  not." 

Alice  was  about  to  reply,  when  she  looked  up  to 
see  Mr.  Gubber  standing  in  the  doorway,  his  face 
wreathed  in  smiles. 

"Good  news,  Mother!"  he  said,  "here's  a  letter 
from  our  Alf."  Then  as  he  saw  Alice  he  added, 
"How  are  you,  Miss!" 

"Oh,  much  better,"  Alice  replied,  "what  does 
Alf  say?    Do  tell  us  quick." 

Mr.  Gubber  handed  her  a  very  dirty  card.  It 
was  stamped  with  the  German  censor  stamp,  and 
the  writing  was  so  smeared  that  it  was  almost 
illegible. 

"Maybe  you  can  make  more  out  of  it  than  I 
can,"  Mr.  Gubber  said,  "I  see  it's  from  Alf,  but 
the  rest  is  too  much  for  my  eyes.  I  thought  maybe 
Mother  could  get  it  better  than  me." 

Alice  took  the  card  and  looked  at  it.    There 


172  ALICE  BLYTHE 

was  an  impatient  silence  while  she  tried  to  make 
out  the  message.    At  last  she  read : 

"  *I  am  a  prisoner — but  well  and  so  don't 
worry.  There  is  a  lot  of  us  here  together.  Food 
is  scarce,  send  some  to—" 

Alice  stopped. 

"That  address  is  almost  impossible  to  make 
out,  but  I  think  we  can  get  it  if  we  see  it  under  a 
magnifying  glass,"  she  said. 

"Yes,  yes,  go  on,  what's  next,"  Mrs.  Gubber 
asked  excitedly. 

"  'And  I  will  get  it  sure,'  "  Alice  continued 
reading.    "  'I  see  Mr.  P.  a — ' 

"The  rest  is  blotted  out,"  Alice  said,  "except, 
"  'Your  loving  son,  Alf.'  " 

Her  voice  was  tense.  She  stood  up  and  caught 
hold  of  Mr.  Gubber 's  arm. 

"Do  you  think  Alf  means  Peter  by  that  'Mr. 
P'?"  she  asked  excitedly. 

"Why,  yes,  Miss,  I'm  sure  he  does,"  Mrs.  Gub- 
ber cried.  "Why,  who  else  could  he  mean?" 
She  looked  appealingly  at  her  husband. 

Mr.  Gubber  went  over  to  the  family  Bible  that 
stood  on  the  table  and  took  out  a  small  package 
of  letters. 


EETURN  TO  LITTLE  PETSTONE     173 

"He  always  does  speak  of  him  as  'Mr.  P.', 
Miss,"  he  explained. 

Alice  took  the  letters  from  him,  as  he  took  them 
out  of  their  envelopes,  and  scanned  them  hur- 
riedly. There  was  a  fair  sprinkling  of  "Mr. 
P's"  through  them  all.  She  was  so  dizzy  with 
the  sudden  excitement  that  she  could  hardly  stand. 

"He's  alive,  Miss,  he  must  be!"  Mrs.  Gubber 
said  excitedly.  "Do  go  straight  home  and  tell 
your  dear  aunts." 

Alice  regained  her  self-control  with  an  effort, 
and  forced  herself  to  say  calmly :  ' ' No,  that's  the 
last  thing  we  must  do.  Don't  tell  any  one.  If  it 
turned  out  not  to  be  true,  it  would  kill  them — 
can't  you  see?" 

"You're  right,  Miss,  we  mustn't  be  too  hasty," 
Mr.  Gubber  said.  "And  now  I'll  go  call  Andrew 
to  help  you  back  to  your  car.  You  look  like  you 
needed  a  bit  of  air." 


CHAPTER  XVII 

LIEUTENANT   WHITE 

FOR  the  rest  of  the  day  Alice  kept  her  news 
to  herself,  but  it  was  the  hardest  thing 
she  had  ever  done  in  her  life.  Every  time 
that  her  aunts  spoke  to  her,  and  she  saw  the  hurt 
look  in  their  eyes,  she  was  tempted  to  tell  every- 
thing; but  the  thought  of  their  grief,  if  her  sur- 
mise did  not  prove  to  be  right,  kept  her  from  doing 
it. 

All  afternoon  she  sat  in  the  garden  trying  to 
think  it  out.  She  read  and  reread  Alf 's  card,  and 
studied  it  under  a  magnifying  glass,  but  beyond 
the  words,  "I  see  Mr.  P.  a"  she  could  make  out 
nothing,  and  that  might  mean  anything.  If,  as 
she  hoped,  it  meant,  "I  see  Mr.  P.  a  lot,"  then  why 
didn  't  Peter  write  for  himself  ?  Was  he  wounded, 
or  had  he  written,  and  his  letter  not  reached 
them? 

The  thoughts  tormented  her  and  she  could  feel 
sure  of  nothing. 

175 


176  ALICE  BLYTHE 

The  next  morning,  after  a  sleepless  night,  she 
decided  to  send  for  her  father  or  mother.  Either 
of  them  could  advise  her  what  to  do.  Then  she 
wrote  a  long  letter  to  Gilbert,  asking  him  to  do 
what  he  could  to  make  sure.  Directly  after 
luncheon,  she  and  Andrew  started  out  in  the  car, 
ostensibly  to  post  her  letters,  but  really  to  send  off 
the  wire  to  Dr.  Blythe. 

A  sudden  impulse  made  Alice  decide,  before 
they  had  reached  the  village,  to  confide  in  the  old 
Scotchman  beside  her.  She  told  him  all  she  knew 
and  showed  him  the  card. 

Andrew  did  not  reply  at  once.  He  sat  think- 
ing for  a  long  while. 

"It's  queer,"  he  said  at  last;  "I  dinna  pretend 
to  understand  it,  but  lassie,  if  I  were  you,  I 
wouldna  send  off  that  wire  to  your  father,  or  the 
letter  to  the  Captain.  I'd  bide  a  wee  and  see  what 
happens." 

Alice  considered.  There  was  something  in  An- 
drew's firm  voice  and  look  that  made  her  feel  that 
she  would  be  wise  to  take  his  advice. 

"It's  going  to  be  awfully  hard  to  wait,"  she 
said. 

Andrew  nodded  understandingly. 


LIEUTENANT  WHITE  177 

"Did  ye  say  ye'd  made  'oot  Alf 's  address?"  he 
inquired. 

"Yes,  and  I've  written  it  plainly  on  this  sheet  of 
paper  to  give  to  Mrs.  Gubber, ' '  Alice  replied. 

"Weel,  dinna  gie  it  to  Mrs.  Gubber,  gie  it  to- 
me/' Andrew  said,  "an*  I'll  ha'  a  talk  wi  Gubber 
himsel'.  There's  a  chance  o'  some  kind,  lassie,  o' 
getting  word  to  Meester  Peter  in  a  box  of  food, 
but  I  canna  say  offhand  just  what  it  is.  Ye  maun 
gie  me  time  to  think." 

* '  Oh,  Andrew,  what  a  splendid  idea !  Of  course, 
I  never  thought  of  it,"  Alice  replied.  "I'll  leave 
you  at  Mr.  Gubber 's,  and  you  and  he  can  talk  it 
over.  I'll  go  on  for  a  little  drive  and  come  back 
for  you." 

Andrew  shook  his  head. 

"If  I'm  tae  think  I  maun  walk  a  bit,  put  me 
doon  here  and  I'll  go  the  rest  o'  the  way  mysel'," 
he  directed. 

Alice  stopped  and  he  got  out. 

"I'll  be  back  for  you  in  an  hour  or  so,"  she  said, 
and  started  the  car  again. 

Without  giving  much  thought  to  the  direction 
she  was  taking,  she  jogged  along  the  back  country 
road  for  a  little  way,  and  drew  up  under  a  big  tree 


178  ALICE  BLYTHE 

beside  Mystery  Meadow,  and  stopped.  It  was  a 
clear,  warm  day,  and  the  shade  was  welcome. 

Alice  had  not  been  near  the  spot  since  her  re- 
turn from  France,  and  it  seemed  as  though  every 
stick  and  stone  called  back  memories  of  Peter. 
She  slipped  from  her  place  behind  the  wheel  and 
stretched  out  comfortably  in  the  other  seat.  Her 
head  fell  back  and  she  stared  up  at  the  leafy 
branches  above  her.  Picture  after  picture  flashed 
through  her  mind.  She  remembered  even  the 
most  trivial  incidents  of  their  meeting,  the  funny 
little  things  Peter  had  said  to  tease  her ;  the  excite- 
ment of  those  stolen  trips.  She  looked  over  at 
the  deserted  barn. 

"Oh,  Peter,  Peter,  you  must  come  back 
to  me!"  she  whispered  miserably,  and  closed 
her  eyes  as  if  to  shut  out  the  old  familiar 
sights. 

When  she  opened  them  again  she  looked  at  the 
sky,  and  what  she  saw  made  her  jump.  A  fa- 
miliar speck  outlined  against  the  blue  was  coming 
towards  her.  She  watched  it,  fascinated,  hardly 
daring  to  believe  her  eyes.  It  came  nearer  and 
nearer  and  circled  uncertainly  above  a  field  far- 
ther on. 


LIEUTENANT  WHITE  179 

The  hum  of  the  engine  reached  her  as  it  came  on 
into  full  view. 

"Engine  trouble,  I  can  tell  that,"  Alice  said  to 
herself,  as  she  watched  the  uncertain  movements 
of  the  'plane.  She  was  herself  again;  the  first 
moment  of  wonder  and  hope  gave  way  to  practical 
common-sense. 

She  watched  the  'plane  curiously  as  it  chose  a 
spot  to  land,  and  saw  it  volplane  down  towards 
her.  It  lighted  rather  heavily  in  a  far  corner  of 
the  field,  and  the  driver  climbed  out.  He  in- 
spected his  engine  and  made  one  or  two  attempts 
to  start,  but  failed  each  time.  Alice  saw  by  his 
uniform  that  he  was  a  member  of  the  Royal  Fly- 
ing Corps. 

"I  suppose  I've  got  to  go  and  help  you,"  she 
said,  sliding  back  into  the  driver's  seat,  "but  I 
don't  see  why  you  had  to  come  just  at  this  mo- 
ment, or  pick  out  this  particular  field  to  land  in," 
she  added  crossly  to  herself. 

She  turned  the  car  around,  turned  up  a  lane 
that  skirted  the  edge  of  the  field,  and  was  soon  just 
on  the  other  side  of  the  fence  from  the  aeroplane. 

1 '  Can 't  I  help  ? "  she  called  cheerfully.  "  I  see 
you're  in  trouble." 


180  ALICE  BLYTHE 

The  driver  of  the  'plane  took  off  his  cap  and 
came  over  to  her. 

"You  are  very  kind,  I  am  sure,  to  offer,"  he 
said,  choosing  his  words  with  care,  "but  I  fear 
my  machine  is  beyond  your  help. ' ' 

"Oh,  I  wouldn't  be  too  sure  about  that,"  Alice 
laughed,  "I  know  a  lot  about  engines." 

She  looked  at  the  man  and  smiled.  He  was  tall 
and  blonde;  his  eyes  were  a  light  blue  and  very 
small,  and  the  lower  part  of  his  face  was  too  heavy 
for  the  rest  of  it.  Alice  decided  at  once  that  she 
did  not  like  him,  but  he  was  in  trouble  and  she  felt 
it  was  her  duty  to  help  him. 

"Anyway  I  can  run  you  up  to  the  village  in  my 
car  and  save  you  a  dusty  walk,"  she  said,  deter- 
mined to  be  good-natured  and  polite. 

"Thank  you,  that's  very  jolly  of  you,"  the  man 
replied,  "but  may  I  ask  whom  I  have  the  honor  to 
address?  I  am  Lieutenant  "White  of  the  Royal 
Flying  Corps,  as  you  see." 

"Oh,  I'm  Alice  Blythe,"  Alice  told  him,  "and 
now  that  we're  properly  introduced,  what  can  I 
do  for  you?" 

Lieutenant  White  smiled  for  the  first  time. 

"If  you  can  tell  me  where  I  can  find  a  hotel 


LIEUTENANT  WHITE  181 

where  I  can  get  something  to  eat,  I'll  be  very 
greatly  obliged,"  he  said,  "I've  made  a  long  flight 
and  I  admit  I  am  very  hungry." 

"Why,  there  isn't  a  place  in  the  village  worthy 
of  the  name  of  a  hotel,"  Alice  replied,  "but  if  you 
will,  I'll  be  glad  to  take  you  to  my  aunts'.  We 
don't  live  far  from  here,  and  it's  almost  tea  time, 
isn't  it?" 

She  unconsciously  expected  him  to  look  at  a 
wrist  watch,  and  was  a  little  surprised  to  see  that 
he  carried  an  old  fashioned  watch  in  his  pocket, 
with  the  chain  fastened  in  the  buttonhole  of  his 
lapel.  As  he  pulled  it  out  and  consulted  it,  the 
lapel  turned  over  from  the  weight  of  the  chain. 

It  was  only  for  an  instant,  but  it  was  long 
enough  for  Alice  to  see  that  there  was  a  small 
blue  forget-me-not  embroidered  beneath  it. 


CHAPTER  XVm 

IN   THE   TOWEB 

IT  was  fortunate  that  Alice  did  not  at  once 
realize  the  importance  of  her  discovery.  If 
she  had,  it  is  hardly  likely  that  she  would  have 
kept  her  head  and  continued  the  conversation  with 
Lieutenant  White.  As  it  was,  her  thoughts  were 
so  confused  that  she  found  it  almost  impossible  to 
keep  calm  and  not  show  by  her  expression  the  tu- 
mult that  was  going  on  in  her  heart.  All  the  color 
left  her  cheeks,  but  Lieutenant  White  did  not 
seem  to  notice  it.  He  slipped  the  watch  back  in 
his  pocket  and  jumped  over  the  stone  wall. 

"You  are  very  kind,  I  am  sure,  Miss  Blythe,  and 
although  I  dislike  having  to  trouble  you  so  much, 
I  will  accept  your  invitation.  My  'plane  will  be 
safe  here,  will  it  not?" 

Alice  nodded  and  forced  a  smile. 

"Yes  indeed,  it's  not  likely  that  any  one  will  see 
it,  and  if  they  do,  I  assure  you  none  of  the  natives 
hereabout  know  anything  about  flying. ' ' 

183 


184  ALICE  BLYTHE 

The  Lieutenant  smiled,  opened  the  door  of  the 
car  and  took  his  place  beside  her,  and  they  started 
back  along  the  road. 

Alice  had  no  formed  idea  or  plan  of  what  she 
was  going  to  do  with  the  man  in  the  seat  beside 
her.  She  felt  for  the  moment  that  she  had  him 
more  or  less  in  her  hands,  but  the  chief  thing  was 
not  to  frighten  him. 

"Do  you  know  this  part  of  the  country  at  all?" 
she  asked  to  make  conversation. 

"Not  very  well,"  the  officer  replied  hurriedly. 
"I  have  not  lived  much  of  my  life  in  England, 
although,  of  course,  I  am  perfectly  familiar  with 
London  and  some  of  the  country,  you  understand. ' ' 

"Oh,  certainly.  We're  rather  tucked  away 
down  here,"  Alice  said;  "very  few  people  really 
know  this  spot  at  all. '  * 

"It  is  truly  delightful;  I  am  glad  I  discovered 
it,"  he  replied  politely. 

"Wonder  if  you'll  say  that  this  time  to-mor- 
row," Alice  thought  to  herself. 

They  were  not  going  very  fast.  She  was  pur- 
posely taking  as  long  as  possible  in  order  to  have 
time  to  think. 

As  they  passed  the  road  that  led  to  the  village, 


IN  THE  TOWER  185 

Alice  saw  Andrew  sitting  on  a  stone  waiting  for 
her.  She  increased  her  speed  a  little  and  passed 
him  with  barely  a  nod,  but  she  made  signs  for  him 
to  follow,  with  her  hand. 

When  they  turned  in  the  gates  of  Brinsley  Hall, 
the  Lieutenant  asked:  "Is  this  your  place?  It's 
very  charming.  I  really  feel  myself  most  fortu- 
nate— no  end  so,  in  fact, J'  he  added  with  a  visible 
effort. 

Alice  wanted  to  laugh,  for  she  realized  that  he 
was  trying  to  be  very  English  for  her  benefit,  and 
his  precise  stilted  way  of  talking  was  funny. 

"It  is  a  rather  nice  place, "  she  admitted.  "It 
has  an  interesting  history  too,  and  we're  no  end 
proud  of  the  gardens ;  I'll  show  them  to  you  while 
we  're  waiting  for  tea. ' ' 

They  stopped  at  the  terrace  and  Alice  tried  hard 
not  to  limp  too  much,  as  she  led  the  way  through 
the  Dutch  door  into  the  Long  Room. 

"Do  sit  down  and  I'll  find  some  food,"  she 
laughed,  pointing  to  a  chair. 

Lieutenant  White  looked  about  him  curiously, 
and  after  a  little  hesitation  sank  into  the  offered 
chair. 

Alice  hurried  from  the  room.    It  was  only  a 


186  ALICE  BLYTHE 

little  after  three,  and  her  aunts  were  still  in  their 
rooms  taking  their  afternoon  rest.  Alice  tiptoed 
to  the  kitchen — the  maids  were  nowhere  in  sight — 
then  with  a  sigh  of  relief  she  returned  to  the  Long 
Eoom. 

1  '  Your  watch  is  fast, ' '  she  said  laughing.    ' '  It 's 
really  only  a  little  after  three,  but  I've  ordered 
tea ;  it  will  be  along  in  a  few  minutes. ' ' 
.  The  Lieutenant,  who  had  risen  when  she  entered 
the  room,  bowed  stiffly. 

"It  is  most  unfortunate  that  I  must  put  you  to 
so  much  trouble,"  he  said  precisely. 

"Not  a  bit  of  it,"  Alice  assured  him.  "Would 
you  care  to  take  a  turn  in  the  garden  while  you 
wait?  I  can't  go  with  you  because  of  this  beastly 
sprained  ankle."  She  pointed  to  her  foot,  shod 
in  a  bedroom  slipper. 

"Oh  no,  indeed,  I  am  quite  comfortable  where 
I  am,  I  thank  you,"  Lieutenant  White  protested. 
"Do  not  cause  yourself  any  anxiety  over  me, 
please.  Perhaps  if  you  would  care  to  bother,  you 
will  tell  me  something  about  this  part  of  the  coun- 
try." 

"Oh,  so  you're  trying  to  pump  me,  eh?"  Alice 
thought  to  herself,  but  aloud  she  said :    "Why  I 'd 


IN  THE  TOWER  187 

be  no  end  glad  to.  We  have  some  rather  inter- 
esting places  in  the  neighborhood.  But  first  let 
me  go  and  hurry  up  tea  a  bit,  and  incidentally  my 
aunts.  You  see  we  caught  them  napping  and 
they're  a  trifle  flurried.' ■ 

"No,  pray  don't  disturb  them,"  the  Lieutenant 
protested,  but  Alice  left  the  room. 

She  did  not,  however,  go  to  the  kitchen  or  to  the 
aunts'  rooms.  She  limped  painfully  through  the 
house  and  down  the  front  driveway.  Andrew  was 
already  in  sight,  and  she  beckoned  to  him  to  hurry, 
and  hid  behind  a  big  rhododendron  bush. 

Andrew  followed  her.  Alice  pulled  him  out  of 
sight  and  whispered  excitedly:  "That  man  you 
saw  in  my  car,  Andrew,  is  a  German  spy,  and  he 's 
got  on  Mr.  Peter's  uniform.  I  know  it,  but  I 
haven't  time  now  to  explain  how.  He's  in  the 
Long  Room  waiting  for  food." 

Andrew  for  once  in  his  life  looked  startled. 

"What  shall  we  do  with  him?"  Alice  continued. 
"I  don't  dare  let  him  out  of  my  sight." 

It  seemed  an  eternity  of  minutes  before  Andrew 
answered,  but  when  he  did  he  spoke  quickly  and 
to  the  point.  Alice  nodded  when  he  finished  and 
hurried  back  to  the  house. 


188  ALICE  BLYTHE 

"Have  I  been  an  age?"  she  asked  gayly  from 
the  door  of  the  Long  Room.  "I'm  most  awfully 
sorry,  but  we  are  so  shy  of  servants — only  two 
left  to  run  this  big  house — the  rest  have  all  gone 
'over  to  munitions,'  as  they  call  it." 

Lieutenant  White  sat  up  straight  and  became 
suddenly  interested. 

' '  Are  there  any  munition  plants  about  here  T  "  he 
inquired  almost  too  quietly. 

"Yes,  indeed,"  Alice  replied,  "any  amount  of 
them — grubby  places,  don't  you  think? — and  so 
awfully  dangerous."  Then  as  she  saw  Andrew 
step  on  to  the  terrace  she  changed  the  subject 
abruptly.  "But  ammunition  is  not  a  nice  tea- 
time  topic,  is  it  ?  Let  me  show  you  over  the  house. 
I'll  wager  you'd  never  believe  from  the  innocent 
look  of  the  outside  that  we've  a  real  secret  tower. 
Come  over  here  a  second." 

The  officer  evidently  thought  it  best  for  his  own 
ends  to  humor  her.  He  got  up  reluctantly  and 
went  over  beside  the  fire  place. 

Alice  pointed  to  the  old  shield  emblazoned  above 
it,  and  as  he  examined  it,  she  slipped  her  hand 
along  the  panel  and  found  the  spring.    When 


"Two  very,  very  big  and  very  strong  hands  thrust  him 
aone  too  gently  through  the  opening." 


189 


Page  191. 


IN  THE  TOWER  191 

Lieutenant  White  turned  to  her,  his  back  was  to- 
wards the  door,  and  he  did  not  see  Andrew. 

"That's  very  interesting,  I'm  sure,"  he  said 
politely,  "but  about  these  munition — " 

He  got  no  farther,  for  Alice,  at  a  signal  from 
Andrew,  touched  the  spring;  the  panel  opened 
slowly,  and  before  the  astonished  officer  realized 
what  was  happening,  two  very  big  and  very  strong 
hands  thrust  him  none  too  gently  through  the 
opening,  and  he  saw  the  panel  close  as  mysteri- 
ously as  it  had  opened. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

HOPES 

LIEUTENANT  WHITE  recovered  his 
senses  almost  at  once  and  thundered  on 
the  door. 

"There's  no  use  of  ye 're  doing  that,"  Andrew 
spoke  mildly,  his  mouth  to  the  panel.  i  '  If  ye  keep 
still  we'll  dae  ye  na  harm,  but  if  ye  start  argy 
bargying,  I'll  be  forced  to  treat  ye  sternly." 

Lieutenant  White  had  not  the  vaguest  idea 
what  "argy  bargying"  meant,  but  he  wisely  re- 
frained from  further  poundings.  Alice  and  An- 
drew quizzed  him  uninterruptedly  for  the  rest  of 
the  afternoon,  and  he  answered  most  of  the  ques- 
tions they  asked  him. 

"He's  the  reason  for  Meester  Peter's  not 
writin ', ' '  Andrew  said  at  last.  *  *  Just  how  I  canna 
tell,  but  we'll  find  oot  somehow,  and,  lassie,  I'm 
thinkin'  we're  safe  in  believin'  that  Meester 
Peter's  alive." 

"I  think  so  too  from  what  he  says,"  Alice  re- 
plied.   "But,  Andrew,  do  you  think  he  meant  it 

193 


194  ALICE  BLYTHE 

when  he  said  that  Peter  would  be  shot,  if  we 
handed  him  over  to  the  authorities  and  news  of  it 
reached  Germany  ?" 

In  the  course  of  the  questioning,  Lieutenant 
White  had  made  many  such  threats  calculated 
to  intimidate  his  jailors.  Alice  was  inclined  to 
believe  him,  but  Andrew  was  hard  to  convince. 

"  'E's  a  powerfu'  secht  o'  words,  but  I'm  no* 
so  sure  there's  much  in  what  he  said.  However, 
we'll  tak'  no  chances.  Gubber  and  I  arranged  a 
plan  this  afternoon. ' ' 

"Oh,  tell  me,"  Alice  begged. 

" Whereby  we  can  send  a  box,"  Andrew  con- 
tinued, "containin'  food  to  Alf,  to  the  address  he 
sent." 

"Well,  go  on,"  Alice  insisted. 

"Gubber  is  to  write  a  wee  note  saying  he  hopes 
Alf  and  his  friend  enjoy  the  food,  an  ordinary 
note  ye  ken  that  will  get  by  the  censor,  adding  the 
words — 'especially  ye 're  Mither's  pudding.'  " 

"Yes,  yes,  and  in  the  pudding,"  Alice  prompted 
impatiently. 

"In  the  pudding  'twill  be  a  plum  pudding,  ye 
ken,  we're  goin'  to  hide  a  wee  compass  in  one  o* 
the  plums." 


HOPES  195 

Andrew  stopped,  but  Alice  looked  vague,  and  he 
went  on  to  explain. 

"A  compass,  lassie,  is  all  that  any  able-bodied 
man  needs  to  get  out  of  a  small  prison  camp.  In 
the  big  ones,  of  course,  it's  anither  matter,  and 
there's  the  trouble.  If  we  can  get  the  box  to  Alf 
afore  he's  transferred,  there's  a  good  chance  that 
he  and  Mr.  P.  may  escape — it's  the  best  we  can 
do,  lassie,  and  I'll  grant  ye  it's  no'  verra  much." 

"And  in  the  meantime?"  Alice  asked,  pointing 
to  the  door. 

"In  the  meantime,  we'll  keep  our  fine  friend 
where  he  is,"  Andrew  replied. 

"But  how  will  we  feed  him?" 

Andrew  scratched  his  head.  "That's  a  seri- 
ous question,"  he  said,  "but  it's  no  great  matter. 
If  we  canna  think  of  a  safe  way,  he  maun  go  un- 
fed." 

Alice,  even  in  her  excitement,  could  not  re- 
press a  smile. 

"When  does  the  box  to  Alf  go?"  she  asked. 

"This  verra  nicht,"  Andrew  replied  as  he 
walked  over  to  the  panel  again. 

In  words  none  too  gentle,  but  which  left  no 
doubt  as  to  their  meaning,  he  warned  the  man 


196  ALICE  BLYTHE 

in  the  tower  to  keep  very  still,  and  left  him  to  un- 
derstand that  if  he  didn't,  he  would  receive  a 
thrashing  worse  than  even  his  German  imagina- 
tion could  picture.  His  warning  was  received  in 
sullen  silence,  and  Andrew  left  the  room  with  a 
satisfied  smile. 

Alice  sat  down  to  think.  She  was  frightened, 
thoroughly  frightened,  and  she  watched  the  panel 
nervously.  Her  aunts  came  down  for  tea  a  little 
later,  and  she  forced  herself  to  talk  cheerfully,  but 
one  ear  was  strained  listening  for  a  sound  from 
the  corner  of  the  room. 

After  dinner  she  sent  Andrew  to  Mystery 
Meadow,  and  told  him  to  roll  the  'plane  out  of 
sight  into  the  barn.  When  he  came  back  she  had 
devised  a  plan  to  get  food  to  the  prisoner.  She 
Waited  until  her  aunts  were  asleep,  and  then  called 
Andrew  who  was  waiting  on  the  terrace. 

She  had  a  tray  stocked  with  provisions  ready 
on  the  table  and  two  big  thermos  bottles  filled  with 
water.  It  was  not  a  tempting  meal,  for  it  con- 
sisted mostly  of  food  in  jars,  and  several  boxes  of 
crackers ;  two  loaves  of  bread  and  a  plate  of  cold 
meat. 


HOPES  197 

"It's  much  for  a  German,"  was  Andrew's  com- 
ment. 

"But  it's  got  to  last  for  goodness  knows  how 
long,"  Alice  reminded  him,  and  she  explained 
her  plan. 

The  only  other  outlet  from  the  tower  was 
through  a  small  room  at  the  top  of  the  house 
that  Peter  had  used  long  ago  as  his  own  particu- 
lar snuggery.  A  panel  behind  a  bookcase  opened 
much  the  same  way  as  the  one  in  the  Long  Boom. 
Alice  told  Andrew  to  go  up  to  that  door  and  wait. 

Then  she  went  over  to  the  panel  beside  the  fire- 
place and  called. 

"Lieutenant  White,"  she  said,  when  a  sullen 
voice  answered  her,  "if  you  will  go  upstairs  to  the 
very  top  of  the  tower,  Andrew  will  give  you  your 
dinner,"  she  explained.  "Now  please  don't 
argue,"  she  continued,  interrupting  a  volley  of 
exclamations,  "and  if  I  were  you  I  wouldn't  keep 
Andrew  waiting  too  long,  he  might  get  tired,  and 
then  you'd  be  without  your  dinner.  And  oh,  by 
the  way,  while  we're  talking,  I  may  as  well  add 
that  we  don't  intend  keeping  you  here  any  longer 
than  necessary,  and  if  you  behave  and  don't  make 


198  ALICE  BLYTHE 

a  noise,  I  hope  that  in  a  few  days  we  will  have 
come  to  some  solution.  It's  possible  that  we  may 
let  you  go  on  account  of  my  cousin,  you  know — 
now  go  upstairs  and  get  your  dinner.  I  don't 
want  to  hear  what  you  have  to  say,  I'm  not  in- 
terested." 

She  waited  breathlessly  and  before  very  long 
she  heard  the  thud,  thud  of  his  boots  as  he  as- 
cended the  stairs.  When  she  was  sure  he  was  al- 
most to  the  top,  she  pressed  the  spring  of  the 
panel  and  slipped  the  tray  inside  the  tower.  Then 
she  touched  the  spring  and  the  panel  closed. 

Up  at  the  top  of  the  house,  Andrew  was  care- 
fully explaining  to  Lieutenant  White  that  it  was 
all  a  mistake  and  that  he  would  find  his  dinner  at 
the  bottom  of  the  stairs. 

All  that  night  the  old  Scotchman  sat  in  the  gar- 
den and  kept  watch,  while  Alice  curled  up  on  the 
sofa  in  the  Long  Room  and  did  her  best  to  sleep. 


CHAPTER  XX 

NEWS  AT  LAST 

ONE  week  later  found  them  both  at  their 
same  posts.  The  box  had  been  sent,  but 
no  news  of  either  Peter  or  Alf  had  come. 
Alice  looked  tired  and  worn  out.  There  were 
heavy  circles  under  her  eyes  that  she  had  a  hard 
time  explaining  away  to  the  aunts,  and  a  grim 
look  had  settled  around  the  corners  of  Andrew's 
mouth. 

He  refused  to  give  up  hope,  but  as  Alice  settled 
herself  on  the  sofa  on  this  particular  evening,  she 
was  planning  how  best  to  explain  the  situation  to 
her  father,  for  she  had  made  up  her  mind  to  face 
defeat,  she  could  not  bear  the  endless  waiting  any 
longer.  Even  the  repeated  threats  of  the  German 
that  Peter  would  surely  be  killed  failed  to  rouse 
her.  Her  hopes  were  dead ;  she  sure  would  never 
see  Peter  again  anyway,  and  the  ultimate  fate  of 
Lieutenant  White  did  not  matter. 

Thus  she  argued,  as  she  tried  to  find  a  comfort- 

199 


200  ALICE  BLYTHE 

able  position  for  her  head  on  the  stiff  arm  of  the 
sofa.  But  when  the  sound  of  carriage  wheels  on 
the  drive  came  to  her,  and  she  heard  Andrew's 
voice  from  the  terrace,  she  jumped  up  excitedly,  a 
new  hope  in  her  heart. 

"What  is  itf"  she  called  softly.  "Oh,  it's  the 
Major."  Her  voice  fell  as  she  recognized  the 
Chetwoods'  dogcart.  "What  are  you  doing  out 
at  this  hour  of  the  night  ?" 

"My  dear  child,  I've  news,  the  most  extraordi- 
nary news  for  you,"  the  Major  replied  excitedly, 
climbing  out  of  the  rig.  "Your  father  called  me 
up  from  London  not  twenty  minutes  ago.  We 
were  all  sound  asleep — yes,  sound  asleep — he's 
had  a  wire  from  Peter's  Colonel.  The  boy's  safe 
and  on  his  way  home.  Think  of  it,  my  dear,  not 
dead  at  all !  Your  father  said  he  knew  I  'd  bring 
over  the  message.  Your  not  having  a  'phone  in 
— great  mistake,  that — but  no  matter,  I  was  only 
too  glad  to  come.  There — there,  you  mustn't  let 
it  upset  you  so!"  he  continued,  as  Alice,  once  she 
had  sifted  the  real  meaning  of  the  Major's  words, 
threw  herself  into  Andrew's  arms  and  burst  into 
tears. 

"It's  a  wee  bit  o'  a  shock,  sir,"  Andrew  said 


NEWS  AT  LAST  201 

gently,  "and  comin'  sudden  like,  it  has  upset  her 
a  bit.  Did  the  Doctor  say  how  Meester  Peter 
came  back?"  he  inquired. 

"Yes,  yes,  of  course — most  extraordinary — 
really,  you  know,  Andrew,"  the  Major  answered; 
"he  escaped  from  a  prison,  you  know,  with  an- 
other chap.  By  Jove!  I  was  forgetting  that — 
important  too.  The  other  chap  was  Alf  Gubber 
— just  fancy — our  Gubber 's  boy.  His  mother 
must  know  of  course." 

"I'll  tell  her,  sir,"  Andrew  interrupted  quietly, 
"i*  the  mornin'  early.  There's  no  use  scarin' 
her,  sir,  she's  no  verra  strong.  That's  ma  brave 
lassie,"  he  continued  as  Alice  lifted  her  head  from 
his  shoulder  and  wiped  her  eyes. 

"How  silly  of  me  to  cry,"  she  said  tremulously, 
"it's  not  at  all  a  crying  matter,  is  it?  Come  into 
the  house,  Major.  I  think  I'll  wait  till  the  morn- 
ing to  tell  the  aunts.    It's  safer,  I  think." 

"Thank  you,  no,  my  dear,  I'll  be  going  back  to 
bed,"  the  Major  replied.  "Did  I  tell  you,  Peter 
was  expected  to  arrive  to-morrow?" 

"Yes,  in  London,"  Alice  said,  "and  that  means 
unless  he's  ill  that  he  will  come  straight  down 
here.    Oh,  Major,  I  can  hardly  believe  it." 


202  ALICE  BLYTHE 

"No,  of  course  not — very  sudden  but — splen- 
did, eh!  I  tell  you  I  was  as  excited  as  you  are — 
could  hardly  talk  to  your  father,  you  know." 

"Come  down  in  the  morning,"  Alice  called  as 
he  drove  off  in  the  dogcart. 

"Oh,  Andrew!  Andrew!"  she  exclaimed  when 
he  was  out  of  hearing,  "am  I  dreaming?" 

"No,  lassie,"  the  old  man  replied,  "you're  no 
dreamin\  Meester  Peter  will  soon  be  here,  and 
that  base  imposter,"  he  added  in  an  entirely  dif- 
ferent tone,  "will  ha*  his  just  reward  at  Meester 
Peter's  hands.  It's  a  gran'  thought,  lassie,  niver 
forget  that." 

They  talked  excitedly  for  the  rest  of  the  night, 
for  sleep  was  out  of  the  question. 

At  the  first  hint  of  day,  Andrew  started  for  the 
village  to  tell  the  Gubbers,  and  Alice  stole  back 
into  the  house,  and  tiptoed  first  to  Aunt  Sera- 
phina's  room.    She  roused  her  with  a  kiss. 

"Auntie,"  she  said  calmly,  "I've  got  some  very 
good  news  for  you,  so  get  up  and  come  into  Aunt 
Matilda's  room,  so  I  can  tell  you  both  at  once. 
Hurry  up,  because  it's  very,  very  good  news,  and 
I  can  hardly  keep  it  to  myself." 

When  both  the   old  ladies  were  quite  wide- 


NEWS  AT  LAST  203 

awake  she  continued:  "It's  about  Peter — he's 
alive  and  well,  and  what's  more,  he's  coming 
home  on  leave  this  very  day.  So  get  up  and 
hustle  into  your  clothes  because — of  course — 
there 's  just  loads  to  be  done,  and  we  want  every- 
thing in  tip-top  shape  for  him.  And  remember: 
no  tears,  he  wouldn't  like  that,  he'll  feel  bad 
enough  at  the  sorrow  he's  caused  us,  and  we 
mustn't  make  it  any  harder,"  she  finished,  and 
then  she  very  wisely  left  them  to  have  their  cry 
out  together. 

She  went  down  to  the  Long  Room  and  tiptoed 
over  to  the  panel,  and  knocked. 

"Oh,  Lieutenant  White,"  she  called,  "I'm 
sorry  to  disturb  you,  but  I  thought  you'd  like  to 
know  that  to-day  will  be  the  last  day  of  your  visit. 
We  expect  a  friend  of  yours  down  who'll  be  no 
end  glad  to  see  you,"  she  added  mischievously. 

"Very  well,"  the  Lieutenant  replied,  "but  I 
warn  you,  your  cousin  will  be  shot." 

Alice  laughed  gayly. 

"Now  I  wouldn't  be  too  sure  about  that,  Lieu- 
tenant, really  I  wouldn't,"  she  replied. 

For  the  rest  of  the  day  the  wires  between  Little 
Petstone  and  London  were  kept  busy.    Alice  spent 


204  ALICE  BLYTHE 

all  of  her  time  at  the  Central  office  waiting  for 
news.  At  a  little  after  two  a  call  came  for  her, 
and  a  voice  that  she  knew  above  all  other  voices 
sounded  over  the  wire. 

"Alice,  are  you  there ?" 

"Oh,  Peter,  yes,  of  course.  When  are  you 
coming  down?" 

"On  the  very  next  train.  Will  you  be  at  the 
station! " 

"Well,  rather!" 

"Then  good-by,  I've  just  time  to  make  it." 

"Good-by." 

This  was  all  the  conversation,  but  it  was 
enough. 

Alice  hurried  back  to  Brinsley  Hall  in  her  car 
to  tell  her  aunts,  and  was  back  at  the  station  an 
hour  before  the  train  was  due.  All  the  waiting 
that  she  had  been  forced  to  do  in  the  past  crowded 
month  seemed  as  nothing  compared  to  that  hour. 
Her  foot  hurt  her  more  than  ever,  and  she  could 
not  walk  off  her  excitement,  but  at  last  she  heard 
the  welcome  rumble  of  the  coming  train,  and  in 
less  time  than  it  takes  to  tell  it  Peter  was  on  the 
platform  beside  her. 

Alice  had  been  planning  for  most  of  that  last 


NEWS  AT  LAST  205 

hour  what  she  would  say,  but  every  word  went 
out  of  her  head  and  she  just  said: 

"Peter!" 

Peter  seemed  to  consider  that  enough,  for  he 
took  her  in  his  arms  and  kissed  her. 

"I  say,  this  is  wonderful!  "Why,  I've  dreamed 
about  coming  back  like  this, ' '  he  said  as  they  drove 
off  in  the  car,  "and  now  it's  happening,  I  can't 
believe  it." 

"It  doesn't  seem  possible,  does  it?"  Alice 
laughed.  "And  now,  Peter,  please  tell  me  all 
about  it.  I  'm  dying  of  curiosity,  and  I  can 't  wait 
any  longer.  Besides  you'd  better  not  talk  about 
it  before  the  aunts.  You  and  Alf  got  the  compass, 
I  know  that  much — that  was  Andrew's  idea,  and 
now  go  on." 

"Yes,  we  got  it,  or  rather  I  did,  for  of  course  I 
happened  to  bite  into  the  plum  that  it  was  hidden 
in.  We'd  made  a  lot  of  plans,  you  know,  before 
that  came.  You  see,  after  that  Boche  took  my 
uniform,  and  oh,  but  I  forgot  you  don 't  know  about 
that, ' '  he  interrupted  himself.  Alice  did  not  con- 
tradict him,  and  he  continued,  "Well,  any  way  I 
was  stuck  into  a  pig  pen  with  a  lot  of  men — Alf 
among  them — and  we  had  some  barbed  wire  to 


206  ALICE  BLYTHE 

keep  us  there;  it  was  not  a  regular  camp,  you 
know.  We  were  expecting  to  be  moved  on  any 
day  but  luck  was  with  us.  Alf  and  I  decided  we 
could  get  out  easy  enough  if  we  only  knew  where 
our  lines  were.  That's  where  the  compass  came 
in.  The  very  night  it  came  we  started  off.  It 
was  raining,  which  helped,  and  we  got  through  the 
wire  without  too  much  trouble  and  then  struck 
north.  Alf  wanted  to  go  east.  I  had  an  idea  in 
the  back  of  my  head,  so  insisted  on  going  north. 
We  traveled  quite  a  way  before  daylight.  Just 
as  we  were  deciding  to  crawl  into  a  ditch  and  wait 
for  the  night,  we  heard  a  'plane  above  us.  We 
ducked  and  watched.  It  was  a  German  machine, 
and  it  landed  in  our  field,  and  the  Boche  driver 
got  out  and  began  tinkering  with  the  engine.  I 
gave  Alf  a  signal,  and — well — the  rest  isn't  very 
pretty  to  tell,  but  after  we  had  finished  up  the 
driver  and  left  him  rolled  in  the  ditch,  we  got  into 
the  machine,  and  we  didn't  stop  going  until  we 
landed  in  front  of  our  own  Headquarters.  What 
our  boys  thought  when  they  saw  a  German  'plane 
gently  landing,  I  don't  know,  and  any  way  it 
doesn't  matter.  Alf  and  I  got  a  royal  welcome, 
and  ten  days'  sick  leave." 


NEWS  AT  LAST  207 

Alice  was  silent ;  they  had  almost  reached  Brins- 
ley  Hall  by  the  time  Peter  finished  his  story.  She 
was  wondering  how  best  to  tell  him  about  the  man 
in  the  tower. 

Her  opportunity  did  not  come  until  late  that 
evening  when  the  aunts,  tired  out  but  happy  be- 
yond measure  at  last,  went  to  bed,  and  Peter  sug- 
gested a  walk  in  the  garden.  Alice  went  out  with 
him  and  they  sat  down  on  the  stone  bench  in  the 
rose  garden. 

Peter  found  her  hand  and  held  it.  After  a 
little  silence  he  said  unexpectedly,  "By  Jove, 
Alice,  you're  rather  splendid,  know  that,  and 
I  do  like  the  way  your  hair  grows  over  your 
ear. ' ' 

Alice  laughed  happily,  then  Peter  went  on  seri- 
ously: "There's  only  one  thing  that  spoils  all 
this,  and  that's  that  a  Boche  wearing  my  uniform, 
and  driving  one  of  our  'planes,  is  at  large  some- 
where. I  haven't  told  you,  but  my  'plane  came 
down  behind  the  lines.  I  was  unconscious,  and 
when  I  came  to,  I  found  my  uniform  gone,  and 
later  I  saw  a  man  go  up  in  my  'plane  with  it  on. 
If  I  could  only  get  a  hold  of  him  I'd  give  ten  years 
of  my  life. ' ' 


208  ALICE  BLYTHE 

Alice  got  up  and  went  over  towards  the  terrace 
and  called  Andrew. 

"Mr.  Peter  says  he'd  give  ten  years  of  his  life 
if  he  could  get  our  friend  in  the  tower,  Andrew. 
Do  you  want  them?" 

' '  Na,  na,  Meester  Peter  may  keep  all  his  years, ' ' 
Andrew  laughed,  "but  I'll  no  deny  that  I'll  be 
sorry  to  gie  up  yonder  German.' ' 

Peter  jumped  to  his  feet.  "What  under  the 
sun  are  you  two  talking  about?"  he  demanded. 

Alice  explained  in  as  few  words  as  possible. 

"But  how  did  you  know  it  was  my  uniform?" 
Peter  asked  wonderingly. 

"By  the  blue  forget-me-not,  of  course,"  Alice 
replied  calmly;  "how  else  would  I  know?" 

Peter  did  not  reply.  He  beckoned  Andrew  to 
follow,  and  not  many  minutes  later  he  had  the 
pleasure  of  seeing  the  man  who  wore  his  uniform 
standing  before  him,  his  hands  held  high  above 
his  head. 

"So  you're  Lieutenant  White,  are  you?"  he 
demanded. 

A  gruff  affirmative  answered  him.  The  Ger- 
man's nerves  had  been  sorely  tried  for  the  last  few; 
days  and  he  was  very  angry. 


NEWS  AT  LAST  209 

"What  are  you  going  to  do  about  it?"  he  asked 
with  an  attempt  at  bravado  that  was  decidedly  out 
of  place  in  his  present  state  of  surrender. 

"Well,  first  I'm  going  to  ask  you  a  few  ques- 
tions," Peter  replied.  "First  of  all  what  do  you 
know  about  the  man  whose  uniform  you  are  wear- 
ing?" 

There  was  no  answer,  the  German  regarded  his 
questioner  sullenly. 

"Na,  Na,  Maister  Peter,  that's  no  the  way  to 
gae  aboot  it,  if  you'll  no  mind  I'll  ask  him  that 
question  ma  seL" 

Peter  nodded.  "Go  ahead,  Andrew,"  he  said 
smiling. 

The  old  Scotchman  turned  to  the  prisoner. 

"Did  ye  ken  aught  of  the  man  that  wore  that 
uniform  afore  you  did?"  he  demanded,  his  deep 
set  eyes  burning  like  coals  of  fire. 

"Ye  maun  better  tell  me  the  truth  for  I  ken  the 
answer  ma  sel,  and  it'll  dae  ye  na  gude  to  lee  aboot 
it." 

The  German  did  exactly  what  the  wily  Andrew 
wanted  him  to.  He  doubted  the  truth  of  this  last 
assertion  and  to  find  out  if  he  was  right  he  fell 
into  the  trap  and  answered  the  question. 


210  ALICE  BLYTHE 

"Lieutenant  St.  John  was  the  Englishman  that 
wore  this  uniform, ' '  he  said.  *  *  I  told  you  that  be- 
fore, or  rather,  she — "  he  nodded  towards  Alice, 
— "discovered  it,  but  what  I  didn't  tell  you  was 
that  Lieutenant  St.  John  was  dead  when  the  uni- 
form was  taken  from  him,"  he  lied,  and  watched 
the  effect  of  his  words. 

Peter  stepped  on  Andrew's  foot  as  a  signal  to 
keep  silent ;  and  turned  to  the  German. 

* '  So  St.  John  is  dead,  is  he  ?  "  he  inquired. 

"Yes,"  the  German's  lips  curled,  and  his  small 
eyes  gleamed  maliciously,  "he's  dead." 

1  ■  Then  you  only  threatened  me  to  scare  me,  eh  ? " 
Alice  inquired.  * '  He  wasn  't  being  held  as  hostage 
for  your  safety?" 

"No,  he  wasn't,  but  there  are  plenty  of  men 
who  are."  The  German  spoke  harshly,  "and  I 
warn  you  if  you  give  me  up,  not  one,  but  a  hun- 
dred of  your  soldiers  will  lose  their  lives." 

"Tosh,  man!"  Andrew  exclaimed,  in  admira- 
tion, "but  ye've  a  grand  imagination,  yestereven 
it  was  just  ane,  and  noo  it's  a  hundred,  ye  fair  tak 
ma  breath  away." 

Peter  and  Alice  consulted  in  undertones. 

"He's  never  seen  me  before,"  Peter  said,  "and 


NEWS  AT  LAST  211 

now  that  I  come  to  think  of  it,  that's  very  likely— 
rather  a  good  joke,  isn't  it?" 

"No,"  Alice  replied  decidedly,  "it  is  not. 
What  are  you  going  to  do  with  him?" 

"Run  him  up  to  London  to-night,"  Peter  re- 
plied; "he's  too  dangerous  to  keep  down  here,  and 
besides  the  sooner  he's  out  of  that  uniform  the 
happier  I'll  be."    He  turned  to  Andrew. 

"We'll  just  take  a  little  ride,  Andrew,"  he  said, 
"if  you  don't  mind,  and  on  the  way  we'll  stop  and 
get  Alf  Gubber.  I  know  he  '11  be  glad  to  go  along 
and  make  up  the  even  number. ' ' 

"Don't  you  want  me  to  drive  the  car?"  Alice 
asked.    * '  I  can,  you  know,  and — ' ' 

Peter  interrupted  her. 

"Certainly  not,"  he  said;  "you  go  up  to  bed, 
we'll  take  care  of  Lieutenant  White — this  is  a 
man's  job,  my  dear,"  he  added  with  a  condescen- 
sion that  infuriated  Alice. 

"But  when  will  you  be  back,  and  where  are  you 
going?"  she  asked,  putting  the  question  that  con- 
cerned her  most  first. 

"Oh,  I'll  be  back  to-morrow,"  Peter  replied. 
"I'll  just  see  the  Lieutenant  comfortably  settled 
for  the  night  and  then  I'll  go  over  to  Aunt  Grace's. 


212  ALICE  BLYTHE 

You  see,  I'll  be  rather  an  important  witness  and  I 
may  be  needed  in  the  morning,  but  I'll  hurry.' ' 

"Who  are  you?"  the  German  demanded.  His 
slow  mind  was  just  beginning  to  grasp  a  certain 
possibility. 

Alice  laughed  and  Peter  turned  to  Andrew. 

"Introduce  me,"  he  said. 

"Wi  pleasure,  laddie,"  Andrew  replied.  He 
turned  to  the  German. 

"Man,  this  is  a  solemn  minute  and  I  hope  you'll 
no  forget  it,"  he  said.  "This  is  Lieutenant  St. 
John,  the  same  lad  ye  saw  lying  dead.  Is  that  no 
a  strange  thing  to  witness?"  he  chuckled. 

The  German  did  not  reply,  the  humor  of  the  sit- 
uation did  not  strike  him.  He  hung  his  head  and 
followed  Peter  to  the  car.  He  did  not  speak  again 
until  he  was  safe  in  the  hands  of  the  authorities. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

AN   UNDERSTANDING  AT   MYSTERY   MEADOW 

«'  a  LETTER  for  you,  my  dear,"  Aunt  Sera- 
Z_k    phina  said,  a  few  days  later,  as  she  came 

^  -^out  to  the  terrace  where  Alice  was  sitting 
alone. 

"For  me,  Auntie?  How  nice!  Why  it's  from 
Helen  Carey  I"  she  exclaimed,  opening  the  en- 
velope.   "How  jolly  of  her.    She  says — 

"Dear  Alice, 

"No  time  for  that  long  overdue  letter,  but  I  must 
rush  off  a  few  lines.  So  much  has  been  happening — 
but  first,  I  am  so  glad  that  Lieutenant  St.  John  is  all 
right.  Dr.  Jepson  told  me,  and — well,  I  can  just  im- 
agine how  you  feel. 

"I  have  seen  Allen.  Did  you  ever  know  such  luck! 
He  was  wounded — not  seriously,  thank  goodness, — when 
the  Engineers  joined  in  that  thrilling  fight.  He's  at 
Fleurette,  and  I  went  over  to  see  him,  and — but  I 
mustn't  get  sentimental,  I  haven't  time,  but  of  course, 
I'm  awfully,  awfully  happy.  There's  a  new  nurse  over 
at  Fleurette,  a  little  French  girl  named  Valerie  Duval. 
She  has  short  hair  and  oh,  my  dear,  she  has  done  the 
most  thrilling  things  you  ever  heard  of.    Even  Marie- 

213 


214  ALICE  BLYTHE 

ken  has  to  take  a  back  seat  when  she  begins  telling  of 
her  adventures.  I'll  give  you  a  detailed  account  some 
day,  if  I've— " 

Alices  reading  was  suddenly  interrupted  for 
two  hands  covered  her  eyes. 

"Peter,  how  rude  of  you!"  she  said  laughing. 

"Who's  your  letter  from?"  Peter  demanded. 

"Helen  Carey,  she's  discovered  a  little  French 
girl." 

"Oh,  who  cares?"  Peter  said  calmly,  taking  the 
letter  away  from  her. 

"Nothing  matters  except  you  and  me,  and  the 
fact  that  we're  going  for  a  little  spin  to  Mystery 
Meadow.    Come  along." 

Alice  snatched  her  hat  and  followed  him  to  the 
stable.  Peter  drove  and  they  did  not  say  very 
much  until  they  had  stopped  under  the  big  tree 
by  the  wall.  Then  Peter  turned  in  his  seat  and 
looked  hard  at  his  companion. 

"Alice,"  he  said  very  gravely,  "I'm  about  to 
propose  to  you.  Now  please  do  not  interrupt  me, 
because  I'm  rather  flustered,  and  I've  forgotten 
the  hang  of  what  I  planned  to  say,  but — well — 
here's  the  gist  of  it.  I  love  you  very  much,  and 
will  you  marry  me  some  day  after  this  beastly 


AN  UNDERSTANDING  215 

war  is  over?  Now  please  say  yes,  because  if  you 
don't  I'll  be  no  end  disappointed.  You  see  I 
really  do  love  you,  dear,"  he  added  gently. 

Alice  looked  up  at  him  and  laughed  softly. 

"You  know  I  will,  Peter,"  she  said;  "that  was 
all  settled  ages  ago,  as  far  back  as  yesterday." 

"Oh,  was  it?"  Peter  asked  surprised. 

"Of  course.  Didn't  you  know?"  Alice  asked. 
"Oh,  what  simpletons  men  are !"  she  added,  bury- 
ing her  head  on  his  shoulder. 


THE  END 


The  Motor  Girls 
SERIES 


By  MARGARET  PENROSE 


The  Motor  Girls 

The  Motor  Girls  on  Tour 
At  Lookout  Beach 

Through  New  England 
On  Cedar  Lake 
On  the  Coast 
On  Crystal  Bay 
On  Waters  Blue 
At  Camp  Surprise 
In  the  Mountains 


The  Motor  Girls  arc  a  frolicking  gypsy-like 
crew  who  follow  tbe  call  of  fun  and  adventure 
where  it  leads.  Cora  Kimball,  the  leader,  is  a 
whimsical,  fun-loving  girl  with  sterling  qualities 
and  in  her  train  are  as  an  attractive  a  group  of 
young  people  as  you  might  find  in  a  day's  journey. 
The  Motor  Girls  will  lead  you  to  die  country's 
most  delightful  pleasure  grounds. 


The  Goldsmith  Publishing  Co. 

CLEVELAND, O. 


EVERYGIRLS 

SERIES 


Jane  Lends  A  Hand 

Georgina  Finds  Herself 

Nancy  of  Paradise  Cottage 

By  Shirley  Watkins 


The  S.  W.  F.  Club 

By  Caroline  E.  Jacobs 


Anne,  Princess  of  Everything 

By  Blanche  Elizabeth  Wade 


Assembled  in  this  "Everygirls"  series  are  books 
of  genuine  distinction  and  exceptional  merit.  Caro- 
line E.  Jacobs,  Shirley  Watkins  and  Blanche  Eliza- 
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five  books  are  representative  of  their  finest  efforts. 
Each  is  a  separate  story  and  each  is  a  real  gem. 


The  Goldsmith  Publishing  Co. 

CLEVELAND,  O. 


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